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Delhi, TN out of Ranji tourney

In a sensational development, the Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to throw out former champions Delhi, and Tamil Nadu, from the Ranji Trophy tournament for this year.

The drastic decision was taken unanimously by the tournament committee after a two hour deliberation, and follows the abandoned super league tie between the two teams at Chepauk earlier this week.

The match was into the third day, with Delhi in a tight spot at 183 four in reply to Tamil Nadu's huge score of 473.

At that stage, Delhi captain Ajay Sharma noticed that the pitch was tampered with while the two umpires were busy with the change of ball.

The board committee, chaired by president Raj Singh Dungarpur, and attended also by secretary J Y Lele, ex officio member Purushottam Rungta and Sunil Gavaskar, reviewed the report of match referee P R Punjabi who appeared before the committee in person, as also the written inputs committee member and former TN star V V Kumar.

The committee then studied the reports by member of the umpires' board Dara Dotiwala, in conjunction with the laws governing domestic cricket.

Finally, a cryptic statement was released, to this effect: "Both the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Delhi District Cricket Association be suspended for the rest of the Ranji Trophy tournament for the year 1997-'98 for bringing the game in disrepute."

For those who came in late, the drama began when Delhi's Ajay Sharma, batting at the time on 55, returned to his crease after having had a look at the changed ball, a short distance away from the pitch.

As he later put it, he suddenly spotted a big disturbed patch of turf near the good length spot, and immediately drew the attention of umpires D R Kar and P S Godbole to the damage. The onfield umpires in turn summoned Punjabi and Kumar.

As per Sharma's subsequent statement, all four officials agreed that the pitch had been tampered with, and would have posed difficulties to the batsmen.

The mach thus came to a halt, 27 minutes ahead of schedule, following hectic two and fro messages. The BCCI ordered that the pitch be repaired and play be resumed on the next day. Sharma, and team managers Jaggi Khanna and Sunil Khanna took refuge under the law that stated that if the pitch, in course of a game, is tampered with deliberately, then the host body will default the game.

However, the tournament committee felt that to apply it in this instance was to misinterpret the law.

The DDCA, which at first instructed its captain to carry on with the game, subsequently backtracked and supported Ajay Sharma's stand.

Both teams had done badly in the first match of Group C. TN conceeded five points to UP, while Delhi could only manage three points against Bengal at home. With both sides now out of the competition, the race for two berths for the knock-out stage will be between Bengal, UP and Maharashtra.

TNCA secretary Ashok Khumbat termed the board's decision as unfortunate. "It is too harsh a punishment, and I feel sorry for the players whose careers have been affected gravely," Khumbat said.

Khumbat also condemned as "wild allegations" the remarks of DDCA officials that the pitch at the M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, had been tampered with during the game.

The statement, Khumbat said, was made without any basis and was totally mischievous.

A visibly annoyed Kumbhat said, "It should be noted that as per laws, once the match commenced the pitch and the ground were entirely under the control of the two umpires and not the staging association. It is also pertinent to note that there were 13 players in the playing area, and besides, there was no TN player nearest to the area where the alleged boot marks due to tampering were noticed."

Khumbat further argued that as per the rules of cricket the alleged "bootmarks" do not fall under the definition of either digging or tampering with the pitch. At best, he said, it would come under the purview of law 42 (11), of Laws of Cricket (1980 code) code, regarding players damaging the pitch.

Kumbhat also claimed that the Delhi team's refusal to continue with the match despite specific instructions from match referee Punjabi and the two umpires was tantamount to violation of law 21 (3) of the laws of cricket. Hence, the TNCA secretary argued, the umpires should have awarded the match to TN.

Khumbat further emphasised that all repairs done to the pitch after the suspension of play was in accordance with, and under the supervision of, the umpires.

Further, said Khumbat, technical committee chairman Sunil Gavaskar had clarified to the board that the Delhi side had to continue with the game, and this in turn had been conveyed to the umpires before commencement of the final day.

Thus, Delhi's decision not to play should have earned the side a forfeit, Khumbat argued.

Finally, said Khumbat, it was ridiculous to suppose that the TN side had any need to tamper with the pitch, considering that at the time, the home side had scored 473 and then pushed the visitors to the brink at 183 for 4.