When Sreesanth-Harbhajan row is yet to be settled, here is another cricket controversy gaining thrust when Rajasthan Royal captain Shane Warne accused Knight Riders skipper Sourav Ganguly of disregarding the sprit of cricket over a catch taken by Graeme Smith.
During the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, the Royals thrashed Knight Riders by 45 runs and recorded their fourth win of the DLF Indian Premier League at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur, while defending a total 196-7.
By the by, a catch taken by Smith at deep mid wicket and followed by Sourav’s question to Umpire without leaving the crease did arise storm again in Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament after the ban on Harbhajan Singh for slapping Sreesanth in another match.
In a statement Shane Warne said, “I was disappointed when he did not take Smith’s word. He is an international captain. He said he caught it clean. Ganguly stood and asked the umpire, that’s not in the spirit of the game. We are very disappointed with Sourav.
Though the catch was overturn by the third umpire due to inconclusive evidence, it has so far cropped up intense heat between the two players. Replying Warne’s accusation of violating the spirit of game, Sourav Ganguly said, look who is talking, if you look at his career and the incidents he got in. It will give you the answer."
In fact, the Australian was unhappy in two occasions; one when Royal Rajasthan batsmen wait for about five minutes with the delay of Knight Riders players to come up to field and then Sourav’s inexorable appeal to on-field umpire to refer third umpire over the catch, which was no doubt a stupendous effort by Smith.
Meanwhile, the Royal Rajasthan team may lodge an official complaint against Sourav Ganguly but onus lies on the administrator of IPL to take stern measures while informing the players to follow the code of conduct and to stop them inflicting attack and accusation on each other.
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