The game may be up for banned India captain by AFP

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Scorecard:	Mumbai v Uttar Pradesh
Player:	SC Ganguly
Event:	Pakistan in India 2004/05

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DateLine: 14th April 2005

 

NEW DELHI, 13 April 2005: Sourav Ganguly's career was in a shambles even as the Indian cricket board moved to appeal the six-match ban imposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the country's most successful captain.

 

Unwanted by fans and authorities alike, vilified by the media and unable to put bat to ball or persuade his bowlers to send down their overs in time, Ganguly is undergoing the most turbulent phase of his career.

 

It is debatable if the 32-year-old, nicknamed the Prince of Calcutta by former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott, will emerge from the crisis unscathed.

 

Given his poor form with the bat -- the left-hander averaged 9.6 in the drawn three-test series against Pakistan last month and aggregated just 31 runs in the four one-dayers -- many see his ban as a blessing in disguise for India.

 

Ganguly, who boasts an Indian record of 19 Test wins as captain, has not scored a Test century since a brilliant 144 against Australia in Brisbane in November 2003.

 

A one-day hundred has eluded him since the World Cup semi-final against Kenya in Durban, South Africa in March the same year.

 

"What the Indian board and selectors could not do, the ICC has done," said former Indian captain Bishan Bedi, an outspoken critic of Ganguly.

 

ICC match referee Chris Broad imposed the unprecedented ban on the captain for his team's repeated slow over rates in the ongoing six-match series which stands locked at 2-2.

 

Having fined Ganguly 70 percent of his match fee in the third match at Jamshedpur, Broad imposed the ban when India fell three overs short during the last-ball thriller at Ahmedabad on Tuesday which Pakistan won by three wickets.

 

"I made Mr Ganguly aware of the potential penalties at the previous hearing and it is unfortunate that this warning was not heeded," Broad said in a statement.

 

It is the third time in the last five months that Ganguly has been hauled up for slow over rates.

 

In November Ganguly was banned for two Test matches for a similar offence, but he won a reprieve after an appeal by the Indian captain was upheld by ICC commissioner Tim Castle.

 

The Indian cricket board is hoping a similar appeal will bear fruit again.

 

"There is a provision for appeal and we should definitely make use of it," board president Ranbir Singh Mahendra said.

 

Ganguly's supporters argue that the the slow over rate was not intentional and the spirit of the game was not violated.

 

The Indian cricket board's legal counsel Usha Nath Banerjee, who helped Ganguly win the reprieve in November, believes there are "grounds to seek a review of the harsh punishment."

 

"Treating the slow over rate as a Level 3 offence of the ICC's Code of Conduct is not anything more than a mechanical operation by the match referee," Banerjee said. "In fact, it is contrary to the principles of natural justice."

 

For now, Ganguly will miss the remaining two matches against Pakistan at Kanpur on Friday and New Delhi on Sunday and four matches of a one-day tri-series against the West Indies and hosts Sri Lanka in August.

 

With the current domestic season over and the next one not due to start till October, there is no opportunity for Ganguly to strike batting form before the team is picked for a Test series in Zimbabwe in September.

 

With John Wright quitting as coach next week after the Pakistan tour, India may have both a new coach and captain when they travel to Sri Lanka in August.

 

Wright's successor has not been finalised, but indications are that the widely-respected Rahul Dravid standing in for Ganguly as captain could be a permanent arrangement.

(Article: Copyright © 2005 AFP)