Get on with it, Sourav

It's a little bit late to be debating Chris Broad's decision as the match referee to suspend Sourav Ganguly for six games for continual slow over rates. There has already been a subsequent appeal against the decision that has been turned down. I couldn't help feeling that the BCCI, which rallied around Ganguly the last time he was handed a similar ban by Clive Lloyd, did not approach the appeal with the same energy or conviction. Now, I'm not very sure about the rules around the various levels of offences as stipulated by the ICC and so I'm not sure whether the six-match ban was appropriate or harsh. What I do know is that there were far too many matches where our over rate was poor. Even with concessions made for contingencies, it didn't quite add up. The team management had to take the blame for it, and as captain Ganguly was held accountable. Fair enough. The public posturing by the BCCI and its office-bearers is understandable - they did not want to be seen as pusillanimous given the long held popular view that the ICC treats Aussies with kid-gloves and comes down harsh on India. A view that is far from baseless, courtesy Mike Denness, Cammie Smith, Barry Jarman et al. But it would be wrong to raise the colonial, racist bogey every time a player from the sub-continent was punished, as hard as it is to resist the temptation. And in this case I think the ICC got it right. It is ironic though that Chris Broad was the one handing out the punishment and to people who have followed the game for a long time that must have really riled. Broad never received the punishment he deserved for his misdeeds as a player. But then, the ICC was a sort of an old boys' network those days, with no power over anything. In any case, it is time for Ganguly to move on and concentrate on getting back to some sort of form (that is stating the very obvious). It may not be too late yet, but he has already severely tested the patience of a people many of who never really accepted him. The way things have gone over the last eight months or so, he may need to reinvent more than just his batting. - NK