Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant on the eve of the must-win clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) was handed a one-match suspension by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for breaching the Indian Premier League (IPL) Code of Conduct for maintaining slow over rate against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on May 7. DC filed an appeal challenging the ruling of the match referee under Article 8 and it was referred to the BCCI Ombudsman for review. In the virtual hearing, Pant, DC head coach Ricky Ponting and Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly gave a few reasons that caused the delay.
As per the rules, an IPL team is allowed 85 minutes to complete 20 overs but DC took 117.82 minutes to complete the innings. As a result Pant was suspended for a match as it was his third offence and faced Rs 30 lakh fine. Also, all the players of the playing XI and impact sub faced a Rs 12 lakh fine or 50 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.
Ganguly blames RR batters, Samson’s outburst
In the hearing where CEO of Delhi Capitals, Sunil Gupta, BCCI CEO Mr. Hemang Amin and match referee Daniel Manohar were present, Ganguly said that 13 sixes were hit by RR batters but “the consequential Ball Retrieval Allowance of 0.30 minutes has only been granted on three (3) occasions”. In addition, he said that the review of Sanju Samson took more than the three minutes as the RR captain protested the decision.
Ponting doesn’t want Pant to play for bowlers’ mistakes
DC head coach Ponting blamed the bowlers for bowling too many wide deliveries towards the end of the innings. The former Australian captain went on to say that Pant should not be held responsible for bowlers' mistakes.
Pant blames hot weather
Pant pointed out that it was the hottest day in Delhi and the heat contributed to slow over rate. Like Ganguly, he blamed the dismissal of Samson for causing a delay of five to six minutes.
RR had slow over rate too
Later, Amin said that 12 sixes were hit by DC batters but they completed their 20 overs in 102 minutes. An automatic allowance of seven minutes was applicable and an addition 11 minutes of Discretionary Allowance was given by the match referee.
DC were told to present evidence but they claimed no actual footage of the match was not provided to them. Amin responded to it saying that the team's video analyst has the entire video of the match. In the end, DC pleaded for mercy considering the importance of the match against RCB. However, the ruling was not overturned and the decision stayed.
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