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The punishment, which will be appealed against despite Gambhir pleading guilty to the offence during the hearing, if not overturned, rules him out of the fourth and final Test starting November 6 in Nagpur, a prospect that can weaken India's batting line-up.
"India opener Gautam Gambhir has received a one Test ban after being found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the third Test against Australia in New Delhi," the ICC said in a statement after Match Referee Chris Broad imposed the maximum punishment for the offence.
The stylish left-hander has scored the maximum runs in the last five innings against Australia with a century and a 67 in Mohali and a double century here. So far he has scored 427 runs.
Gambhir had elbowed Watson while taking a run on the opening day of the ongoing match after a heated exchange with the Aussie all-rounder.
The Indian met match referee Chris Broad this morning before the start of third day's play when he was informed of the penalty.
"The decision to find Gambhir guilty of a level 2 offence is indicative of the fact that any degree of physical contact is unacceptable," said Broad who decided not to be lenient by giving a lesser penalty of a fine of between 50 and 100 per cent of the player's match fee. "For Level 2 offences, the concerned players have the right to appeal against the adjudicator's decision within 24 hours of notification of the decision. Accordingly, Mr. Gambhir will be lodging an appeal," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a press release.
The hearing had been adjourned last evening to allow the match referee to review the evidence. The opener was charged under Rule C1 of the Code (Level 2) which states that "players shall at all times conduct play within the spirit of the game."
Watson was yesterday found guilty of "verbally engaging" with Gambhir "in a manner that was not in keeping with the Spirit of Cricket" and fined 10 per cent of his match fee. Broad said Gambhir could have been charged under a stronger code considering his past involvement in a similar run-in with Pakistani Shahid Afridi which resulted in a heavy fine.
But a lighter charge and sentence were imposed on him after umpires Billy Bowden and Aleem Dar highlighted the provocation by Watson.
"Had Gambhir been charged with and found guilty of a charge under 2.4, due to his previous offence, I would have been obliged to impose a minimum penalty of a two-Test match ban. In the view of the umpires, the facts of this case – the lightness of the physical conduct and the element of provocation - would not justify such a penalty," he added.
Broad said Gambhir's punishment was decided after taking into account his past disciplinary record. "The ICC has repeatedly told the players that deliberate physical contact between players will not be tolerated. I have also taken into account the previous offences of Gambhir and therefore, I am satisfied that the penalty imposed is an appropriate outcome in the circumstances of this matter. I hope Mr Gambhir will learn from this," he said.
Present at the hearing was Gambhir himself, Broad, umpires Bowden and Dar, third umpire Suresh Shastri and fourth umpire Sameer Bandekar, India coach Gary Kirsten and captain Anil Kumble.
Ex-players, experts say ban justified
The one-Test ban imposed on Gautam Gambhir evoked a mixed reaction from former cricketers with some of them describing the punishment as "harsh" while others justifying it, saying offences related to physical contact need to be dealt with strictly.
While Mohinder Amarnath felt the ban was harsh, others like Ravi Shastri, Ian Chappell and Saba Karim said it was perfectly justifiable.
Gambhir elbowed Watson after an angry exchange of words on the opening day of the ongoing third Test against Australia in Delhi and later went on to insist in a press conference that it was an accidental run-in.
However, when called for a hearing by match referee Chris Broad, Gambhir pleaded guilty to the charges. "It is perfectly justified because he is a young chap and he should be given a rap on the knuckles at the right time," said former captain Ravi Shastri favouring the ban that will be challenged by Gambhir in an appeal.
"It should not happen that he does such a thing in a World Cup and then gets banned for the final," he added. Former Australian captain Ian Chappell agreed and said that "the ban is justified because cricket is not a contact sport."
Noted cricket writer and former county player Peter Roebuck hoped the punishment would act as a deterrent for Gambhir in future.
"I think it was the right decision because in cricket there is no place for physical abuse. I hope he will learn his lesson by such a decision at the right time," he said.
Former India wicket-keeper Saba Karim said the ban might seem harsh in isolation but perfectly alright if one takes into account Gambhir's past record, which includes a similar run-in with Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi last year.
"If you look at it in isolation, it is a harsh decision for him. But if you remember, Gambhir had also barged into Afridi in a match in Kanpur. Two incidents put together, I think the match referee should have given him this punishment.
However, former India player Mohinder Amarnath did not subscribe to the view and said the ban was a tad too harsh considering that Watson had provoked Gambhir with his verbal assault.
"I think it is slightly harsh. I don't know what Watson said to him which provoked him to do such a thing," he said. The ban, if not overturned, rules Gambhir out of the fourth and final Test against Australia starting November 6 in Nagpur.
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Indians need to work on their fielding. Instead of running after the ball , run before it and stop it using your body. You guys are just uselessly giving away runs. Dont put urself in a sorry state. You have nothing to be sorry about as you have done nothing wrong.
A Daniel has come to judgement.
India is well known for communal forces. After this judgement these forces will be provoked. In the crowd of spectators, these forces will make life miserable for Watson. In his own safety, Watson should put a self imposed ban on himself and disappear from the rest of the series and save himself from the crowds supporting Gambhir. Same holds for the umpire referee Ponting and others who must impose a ban on themselves for next few tests and ODIs and save their skin.
Are the icc official blind oops forgot they are racists . Blind is too soft a word for them. Kathc and watcson were both seen fighting with Gambhir Of course abusing him. DOWN WITH RACISM.THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WHITE SUPREMACY IN THESE MODERN TIMES.
Broad Is Narrow
It is a very painful decision but, it is the most apprpriate one. Gautam Gambhir deserves it.When he is playing so nice why did he do this? Australians are showing their character. But we should not follow them. We should have our own Indian character. Calm and composed.This will affect his game. Austrailians want this and intentionally they are doing this. Leave it to the indian spectators. They will make austrailian outfielders cry like they did to Symonds before.
What a shame ICC ? How can you be so blind that having seen the provocation by Watson, Gambhir's response was very subdued still ?What biz has Watson got by standing in the way of a run being scored by Gambhir ? Aussies are certainly frustrated in not being able to dislodge Gambhir and are trying other methods to take him on !!What a shame on them !
ICC can not go far with having two set of rules for people playing the same game. What is considered as 'part of the game' when an Aussie does it, is punished with a ban when an Indian did it. Adding to the insult is the 10% match fee penalty on Watson which suggests that it is not a big deal to abuse fellow players since you are allowed to think that you are superior to them in all sense!!ICC having confirmed Watson's believe by their action has proved that they are biased when it comes to using Section 2.4 of the ICC Law.Not far is the day when these developed economies succumbing to their false belief would end up no-where (much like the credit crisis they are into now) only to give way for India to rise to its all glory!!Hail India!!
It was so much, so much, so much evident that Australian players were troubling Gambir. In turn what a judgement. What is the intention? Removing one very in-form batsman from squad. What is the intention? Who gave this???? Gambir, yes, you should go far appeal, you should not remain silent. This is stupid. It is absolute fake in front of crores of cricket lover.
In India communal majority community has put life of noble Christians in danger. On cricket field same thing has happened. Since the judge was a noble seclulular Christian too, he made this brave seclulular judgement to punish commumunal Hindo Gambhir. It is a warning to all Hindus to follow the seclulular path of minority communities.
You sound like a traitor.You shouldn't be staying in India. Do u want to swap places with me?? This is utter nonsense that u bring religion into sports shows how fanatic you are. It does prove that the christians especially missionaries have been converting poor uneducated hindus espeicially living in the rural areas and slums into christians to promote christainity .If your missionaries really want to serve the community, do it unconditionally.Why the hell , am i stooping to your level . We are not discussing religion here.Hope it is clear to you .Keep your extremist comments to yourself.
Indian businessmen should stop throwing bread and biscuits to aussies in IPL. Scrap there contract and let them beg else where in the world.
I.C.C is for the whites when a batsman is taking a run he has got all the rights to remove the obstacles on his way to the other end Gautam Gambir should have hit that fellow Shane Watson with the bat that would have been nice .The most unsportive team in the history of cricket is Australia.
INDIANS WILL STILL WIN THE MATCH . YOU CAN IMPOSE BANS, FINES OR WHATVER YOU WANT.JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT AUSSIE PLAYERS ARE NOT HOLIER THAN THOU.SO TAKE YOUR MASK OFF .YOU CANNOT SUBDUE THE INDIANS .
Indians, dont get intimidated by these bullying tactics of the aussies . Go home, aussies to ur mommies and complain that you have been pushed, nudged , abused,elbowed etc by the Indians. What an excuse for losing the game.Even their media is once again out there just highlighting what the Indian players ie Zaheer and Gambhir have done but not showing how these players were provoked by the aussies. Besides watson, haddin was also seen calling Gambhir a fool. One of the waugh brothers i dont care which of the two who is the host to the program foxsports speaks very negatively about Indian players.
it was a decission which i expected earlier and it is what he needed,becouse he diddnt respect bowker
Respect , my foot these Aussies understand this language only. They are the most Unsporting lot
Do you understand the meaning of the word respect. Another school droput who is dumb as mule.
Then your hayden and symonds should be pumping their muscles and wrestling somewhere.What are they doing in the cricket world hitting bat to the ball .
Send him to the arena , we accept this challenge . We will see to it that by hook or crook , watsons bones are all smashed into pieces.take your muscular power elsewhere. What else can we expect from convicts.
ICC has made rules to only protect a white player as said by Gavaskar. It was Gambhirs turn now as he was a posing a threat to the aussies who couldnt digest this. The video clip clearly shows watson saying something to provoke Gambhir before he was elbowed . Aussies are losers in all ways and should be taught a lesson . Waugh said viceversa on fox sports that it gambhir who needs to be taught a lesson. They should be looking at their own players behaviour first. In the video clip watson is seen abusing Gambhir when he got out . He should be fined and banned for that in the same way. Indians do not give up playing tough against these people because that is what they want to push in the corner and win the match at all costs. Take the matter to a higher court and appeal against the fine and ban. Also the aussie players show their backs to the camera when abusing .
this is a very very bad desition of icc. and this meter is full wrong in watson. but watson is realeased for this meter. and icc is a sad and bad desition and bcci is sall in the meter for icc. icc @ bcci this dealing problem.
Gambhir should have given watson a hard kick in his ase as he was blocking his path deliberately . As it is he would be fined and banned by racists ICC.if you see the video, watson does provoke gambhir and is seen saying something to him before he was elbowed. White racists ICC , you should be banning this white man as well.These are whitemans laws.Watson was also seen in the video clip as verbally abusing Gambhir when he got him out. One can see clearly that these laws are made for protecting and covering up the misdeeds of a white player only. Is there any higher court than ICC. If so, take this matter ahead and specifically ask for a south african, srilankan or even a pakistani lawyer or anyother non white to look into it. Also noticed aussie players show their backs to the camera when abusing. Indians, start doing the same . Let it be tit for tat.
It seems that the AUSTRALIAN PLAYER are so wicked that they forgot what is SPORT MEN'S SPIRIT, now if they can't compete with BAT and BALL, they have gone so low, and are using dirty tactices. It is high time that BCCI take this matter seriously with ICCI and not just sit cowardly. Protest against provocation, or take a drastic step not to play with AUSTRALIAN. The era or apartheid's has gone long time back, and partiality by even Empires will not be tolerated, look at injustice, one player punished by 10% match fees, and other one Ban of One Test, are Australian afraid of his form ? SHAME ON THEM.
can't the match refere see what watson and katich were doing.why always indians are found guilty? why on one takes any strict action againt ausses?while we all know they do lot of mistake and cheating.if ur really an indian u will help ghambhir to come out of this problem.hope u will look after it.
Wow! hats off to you wicked Australians. You won the game plan. It is a clear cut plan to skip Gambhir from the match to play as he is in his good form and a big trouble to Australia. Hey people we all know how cunning is Australia as they are infamous for their agression. I understand this whole stint as a most cunning plan chalked out by Australian cricketers to be safe from losing to India; by provoking our Gambhir to react and get himself ban for some matches, atleast so that they can save from themselves getting defeated at the hands of Indians. Our foolish Gambhir fell prey for it; that stupid player not only brought disgrace to India but also weakened the team by getting himself a one test match ban. Stupid fellow Indians, don't fall for their next round of intimidation as you people can't control your emotions and all of you will buy yourselves a ban for future matches, and will watch India-b team playing against Australia in the ODI's and India loosing in all of them.
History repeats . As Gavaskar correctly pointed out, the provoker, who is usually a whiteman , is left off with a penalty, while players from Subcontinent is always fined. Mr Broad's personal record as a player is also not upto the mark.So, I really wonder why we Indians tolerate him.ICC is still a whiteman's fiefdom
What else was expected from a chaplike Broad. Watson trying to deliberately obstruct Gabnbhir was overlooked completely. Gavaskar was absolutely on the spot when he said that the match referees invariably are harsh to Indians and Pakistanis while acts of violence and indecent behaviour by Aussies, English, S African and West Indian cricketers are completely overlooked.