Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

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.