BCCI, DDCA decisions prove fatal to Delhi’s cause

Now the verdict is out and the guilty has been punished. But all this has come after the “innocents” had been punished for no fault of theirs, as both Tamil Nadu and Delhi teams were “banned from further participation” in the tournament last year. But now it transpires that it was just one player, who was solely responsible for damaging the pitch.

True, the damage to the “innocent” players cannot be undone now. Nevertheless, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has set a bad precedent by its hasty decision. Without finding out the `real culprit’ for pitch-tampering, which they have done now after almost a year, the game’s supreme body decided to punish both teams. It was a strange verdict but at the same time a cruel one.

Ajay Sharma, seeking to make a comeback into the national side — he aggregated over 1,000 runs in a season and reached the unique landmark of 27 Ranji hundreds the previous year — was thus deprived of the chance. So was the case with several other youngsters in the two teams.

“My stand has been vindicated. We (Delhi team) were of the opinion all along that the pitch was tampered by one of the Tamil Nadu players. Hence, we refused to continue the game. As a result, I am the one who has suffered the most. Most other players are in some national squad or other,” Ajay Sharma said.

“The decision (of banning Reuben Paul) should have been taken earlier. Anyway, what has been done cannot be undone now,” he added, prophetically.

Maninder Singh Jaggi, the coach of the Delhi team during the episode, echoed similar sentiments. “Nobody was willing to believe us then. The truth has finally come out, but at the cost of our team suffering,” he said.

When BCCI’s four-memmber committee failed to `identify’ the `real culprits’ it was left to either association to “take appropriate action” against those who were responsible for the abandonment of the match. While TNCA included Reuben Paul in the list of probables for the new season, DDCA `punished’ Ajay Sharma by axing him from the captaincy.

With the `pitch-tampering episode’ now behind them, the Delhi team members are all set to play their last North Zone Ranji league encounter against Jammu and Kashmir in Jammu, starting on the Boxing Day (December 26). It will be preceded by a one-day game.

Unfortunately for Delhi, the decision has come a little too late in the day. For, the entire episode had kept the team’s morale down that it could not concentrate as much as it would have. The fallout is there for all to see: Delhi have failed to qualify for the Wills Trophy and finished behind Punjab. Delhi’s loss has been Punjab’s gain.