The ban imposed on Gambhir and letting off Watson by just cutting 10 per cent of match fee is not going to go down well with those who believe that ICC is biased towards the Aussies. It is high time that ICC stands up in the interest of the game.

Gambhir and Watson had been summoned for an ICC Code of Conduct hearing by match referee Chris Broad for an elbowing incident during the first day’s play in the third Test. During the opening day’s play, both Gambhir and Watson were engaged in a number of verbal confrontations. The initiative was from the bowler’s side where Watson kept on hurling abuses against the Indian opener to unsettle him at the crease. What Aussies call “mental disintegration”.


The verbal abuses turned ugly when during one such spat Gambhir, while taking a run, stuck out his elbow that hit the Australian all-rounder in his stomach. However, this incident was not put up by Aussies and the charges were laid by on-field umpires Billy Bowden and Aleem Dar and third official Suresh Shastri. Both players were found guilty of violating the spirit of the game under the Code of Conduct and hence the hearing took place.

At the hearing that was conducted on Thursday (October 30), Gambhir pleaded guilty for not playing in the spirit of the game. However, the verdict could only come out on Friday. This is not Gambhir’s first offence, as he was involved in a front-on collision with Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi during an ODI match in Kanpur when Pakistan toured India last year.


Earlier, on Thursday, Shane Watson has been fined 10 per cent of his match fee for being found guilty of verbally engaging with Gambhir by match referee Chris Broad.


This India-Australia series is turning out to be a battle ground as far as players’ confrontations are concerned. It was believed that post Sydney saga the two teams would strive to maintain camaraderie on the field, but the atmosphere is turning out to be of a high tension electric field. In the on going series, Indian pace bowler Zaheer Khan has already faced the axe when he was fined 80 per cent of his match fee after being found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute in the second Test in Mohali for his aggressive celebration after the dismissal of Matthew Hayden.


Now, one thing is for sure, the ban imposed on Gambhir and letting off Watson by just cutting 10 per cent of match fee is not going to go down well with those who believe that ICC is biased towards the Aussies. Sunil Gavaskar has time and again raised this issue, and to an extent he could be right. Even a layman could say that the act of Watson was much abusive than what Zaheer did in second Test.


Also, Simon Katich’s name was not mentioned by umpires or referee, as he too was guilty of fighting with Gambhir. One can’t defend the act of Gambhir on the cricket pitch, but the ones who bring the game disrepute should be viewed with same eye. It is high time that ICC stands up to settle this issue in the interest of the game.