Sri Lankan media comes down heavily on Ganguly
4 August 2001
Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has come in for scathing criticism in the
Sri Lankan media for violating the ICC Code of Conduct twice within a
week during the triangular one-day series in Colombo inviting the
wrath of the match referee.
"Ganguly's actions are sullying the good name of Indian cricket,"
state-owned 'Daily News' said in a coloumn by its cricket writer.
"Ganguly will certainly not go down as a captain who upheld the spirit
of the game after getting on the wrong side of the International
Cricket Council match referee Cammie Smith twice inside a week," it
said.
The Indian captain was suspended for a match for showing dissent at
the umpire after being adjudged leg before wicket in a match against
New Zealand. Ganguly got into trouble once again in the penultimate
league match against Sri Lanka when he gave a verbal send-off to
Russel Arnold. He was "severly reprimanded" by Smith and fined 75 per
cent of his match fees.
"To be the captain of a country is a matter of national pride. Along
with it comes greater responsibility and accountability. By his
actions, Ganguly had become a marked man and he should restrain
himself on the field," the daily said.
"It's unbecoming of the captain of India," said another daily 'The
Island' which also commented that Smith seemed to have adopted double
standards in penalising Ganguly while letting off Michael Slater for a
much graver show of dissent during Australia's tour of India earlier
this year.
The paper said the match referees might be forced to take harsh
decisions against players who crossed the line once too often. "One
can only think of such an explanation to justify Ganguly's suspension
in this instance," it said.
It also criticised former Indian opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, now a
television commentator, for "jumping to Ganguly's defence".
© PTI