da betway： Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has come in for scathing criticism in theSri Lankan media for violating the ICC Code of Conduct twice within aweek during the triangular one-day series in Colombo inviting thewrath of the match referee
04-Aug-2001Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has come in for scathing criticism in theSri Lankan media for violating the ICC Code of Conduct twice within aweek during the triangular one-day series in Colombo inviting thewrath of the match referee.”Ganguly’s actions are sullying the good name of Indian cricket,”state-owned ‘Daily News’ said in a coloumn by its cricket writer.”Ganguly will certainly not go down as a captain who upheld the spiritof the game after getting on the wrong side of the InternationalCricket Council match referee Cammie Smith twice inside a week,” itsaid.The Indian captain was suspended for a match for showing dissent atthe umpire after being adjudged leg before wicket in a match againstNew Zealand. Ganguly got into trouble once again in the penultimateleague match against Sri Lanka when he gave a verbal send-off toRussel Arnold. He was “severly reprimanded” by Smith and fined 75 percent of his match fees.”To be the captain of a country is a matter of national pride. Alongwith it comes greater responsibility and accountability. By hisactions, Ganguly had become a marked man and he should restrainhimself on the field,” the daily said.”It’s unbecoming of the captain of India,” said another daily ‘TheIsland’ which also commented that Smith seemed to have adopted doublestandards in penalising Ganguly while letting off Michael Slater for amuch graver show of dissent during Australia’s tour of India earlierthis year.The paper said the match referees might be forced to take harshdecisions against players who crossed the line once too often. “Onecan only think of such an explanation to justify Ganguly’s suspensionin this instance,” it said.It also criticised former Indian opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, now atelevision commentator, for “jumping to Ganguly’s defence”.