Sourav Ganguly and Australian leg spinner turned a placid
evening in Jaipur into a battle of words as they went headlong over a controversial
catch turned down by the third umpire. In a high pitched encounter between the
Kolkotta Night riders and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, trouble
erupted when Sourav Ganguly spoofed one up into the air off the bowling of Yousuf
Pathan for Graeme Smith to catch it under dubious circumstances.
While the South African skipper wheeled away in celebration and with the square
leg umpire opting to rule him out, Ganguly decided to stay on and argue with
the umpire on the legitimacy of the catch. Eventually the catch was dismissed
as a bump upon referral to the third umpire leading to a rather unsavory exchange
of words after the match. The decision however proved inconsequential to the
outcome as the Rajasthan Royals romped to an easy win over the Knight riders
in the highly successful Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
Speaking to reports after the match, Shane Warne was rather emotionally hyped
up and disturbed as he objected to Ganguly's reluctance to walk away. The former
Australian cricket legend pointed out to the rules of fair play signed by the
captains of the eight teams at the beginning of the IPL and found it rather
disturbing that Ganguly refused to walk even when someone of the repute and
honour of Graeme Smith admitted to have taken it cleanly. Warne further added
fuel to the fire taking exception to Ganguly's late arrival for both the batting
and fielding ends and capped up by arguing that his conduct was rather unsavory
and disappointing.
However, unlike previous occasions Ganguly chose to hit back with a torrent
of replies. Ganguly himself has been a victim of rather dubious decisions in
the past, with the bump catch given against Australia high in recent memory.
Ganguly chose to put the focus on the fact that the Umpires had not themselves
objected and he was playing in the spirit of the game. Sourav Ganguly further
added that his fans should laugh away the comments made by Shane Warne and someone
with a long history of misendeavors as Shane Warne has no right to teach him
a lesson or two in morality.
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, the cricketing extravaganza held in India promises to live up to all the hype
and focus it did create in its openings weeks. Catch up on each and every cricket
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