Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Both the rival captains Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne has been fined today for an amount of 10 per cent of their match fee and reprimanded for their conduct by the Indian Premier League.

The two veteran cricketers engaged in a public remarks following the IPL match between their respecctive sides, the IPL was quick to punish the two captains and said it would not tolerate any on-field or off-field indiscipline.

While Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Ganguly was penalised for forcing the on-field umpire to refer a contentious catch to the third umpire, Rajasthan Royals’ captain Warne was punished for lambasting Ganguly’s conduct in the post-match press conference. The IPL also rightly decided to suspend the on-field umpire in question, G Pratap Kumar, for a match.

“It has been informed by Farokh Engineer, the Referee in the IPL game between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on May 1, that he has issued an official reprimand to Sourav Ganguly, and fined him 10 per cent of his match-fee for showing dissent on the field,” IPL commissioner and chairman Lalit Modi said in a statement today.

“The Referee has also suspended Pratap Kumar for one match, on the grounds that there was no reason for him to accede to Ganguly’s request to consult the TV umpire while Warne crossed the line by commenting on Ganguly’s conduct after the match.” Modi said.

“Shane Warne, captain of the Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing DLF Indian Premier League, has been reprimanded and fined 10 per cent of his match-fee by Match Referee Farokh Engineer,” Modi explained.

“Warne was found guilty of violating Section 1.7 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct, which deals with public criticism of, or inappropriate comment on a match-related incident or official. It constitutes a Level I offense,” he added.

Warne had criticised Ganguly for going against the spirit of the game by not accepting fielder Graeme Smith’s word on the controversial catch.

He also blamed Ganguly of resorting to time-wasting tactics during the match. Though the Royals decided against lodging a formal complaint against the former India skipper, the IPL decided to take action as “Ganguly’s act of prevailing upon the on-field umpire to refer a decision to the TV umpire constitutes a Level I offence as per the ICCs Code of Conduct.”

We think that this will set an example for all players to behave properly in the true spirit of Cricket only and refrain from slamming each other.

Sachin Tendulkar - icon player for Mumbai Indians is now fit and will make his debut in Indian Premier League’s Sunday match against Delhi Daredevils.Sachin has missed the first five matches of the Twenty20 tournament due to a groin injury.

Sachin under all probability will open the batting along with Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya. The Mumbai Indians have been dogged by the Harbhajan Singh controversy and managed record their first win in the league against the Kolkata Knight Riders after four successive loses.

Sacing Tendulkar has played no cricket since the first Test of the home series against South Africa in Chennai in March.

Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput informed that Sachin batted in the nets yesterday. There are two more days to go before the macth and he will definitely get more fit and will take the final call on the morning of May 4th - he also added.

Nearly all fans and cricket buffs think that the return of Sachin Tendulakr will sure benefit Mumbai Indians and we will witness some true fireworks from his bat.

Just after the Rajasthan Royals match ended with Knight Riders, Shane Warne could not hold back his displeasure with Ganguly and his behavior on field. He said “Ganguly was not playing in the spirit of the game.”

“He took time to come out to bat in the middle. He made us wait in both innings and was running on his own time.”

Warne also criticized Ganguly’s decision to call for the third umpire after Graeme Smith claimed a catch in the deep that was later negated by the third umpire.

“He can’t ask for a third umpire after he’s given out. He should have accepted that catch was proper”.

“I told him, the game is not about you and your opinion. I was extremely disappointed with Ganguly,” Warne concluded.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Joy Bhattacharya defended Ganguly’s actions. ” Ganguly had every right to question the umpire’s decision,” he said. “As far as we’re concerned it’s a non-incident,” he further stated.

Sourav Ganguly hit back at Warne’s comments after the latter accused him of not playing in the right spirit.

“Warne should look at what he’s done all his life.”

“To claim a dropped catch is not in the spirit of the game. When the umpires aren’t saying anything, why is Warne?” he said.

“I’ve better things to do than sorting this issue with Warne.”

Smith lashes out

South African captain Graeme Smith also lashed out at Ganguly. “Sourav was a touch out of line in his behaviour,” he thought. “TV replays showed it was a clean catch, I felt it was clean. I know the rules, I know what is allowed and what is not” - he added.

We hope that this argument dies down as fast as it occurred and the spirit of Cricket wins in the end.

A clinical and perfect win for the Kings XI punjab who seem to have grown up much after the initial loses. This was the debutant match for Shaun Marsh who got going tonight and made sure that there are no hiccups in this run chase. He opened the innings for Kings XI and scored a superb knock of 84 off 62 balls with eleven fours and one six and remaining not out.

Earlier a brilliant knock by Rohit Sharma ( 76 out of 42 balls) saw Deccan Chargers pull up a total of 164 for 8 in 20 overs. He was the lone warrior for the Chargers and single handedly took them to a total which was at least challenging.

But Marsh played a stunner on his debut match and was well supported by Jayawardene, who played a fine cameo. With this win, Punjab are in 4th place in the points table. We have a great match tomorrow between Chennai and Delhi, the two teams who have looked the best in this league so far. So stay tuned to IPL Cricket Forum.

Deccan Chargers: 164/8 (20.0 Ovs)
Kings XI Punjab: 167/3 (18.5 Ovs)

Kings XI won by 7 wickets and seven balls to spare.
Man of the Match - Shaun Marsh.

© IPL Cricket Forum

Shane Warne leads his team again to another victory defeating the Knight Riders by a decent margin of 45 Runs. Shane won the toss and decided to bat first in the scorching heat of 40 deg probably with a thought that the visitors will be worn out after fielding below the sun.

Rajasthan Royals just seem to be getting better with every match. For the Knight Riders, Ganguly and Hussey put on a good partnership but they couldn’t score at a brisk pace. It seemed he was mostly there to protect his wicket more than scoring.

While Shane Warne is coming into every match with specific strategies and with team fully charged up, Knight Riders seemed to be disoriented and a team lacking proper strategy. Its only a hope that each team realizes the true spirit of 20Twenty Cricket and work out specific plans before a match.

After Ganguly and Hussey the team fell like a heap of cards with a total of 151. Swapnil Asnodkar picked up the Man of the Match Award with 60 runs off 34 balls in which he scored 10 boundaries and one over boundary.

Rajasthan Royals: 196/7 (20.0 Ovs)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 151-all out (19.1 Ovs)