The cricket fraternity left shell-shocked after Australia captain Steve Smith along with Cameron Bancroft acknowledged the crime of ball-tampering during the 3rd day of the Test match. Australian fans along with Cricket Australia showed their distress and disappointment at the incident. ICC suspended Steve Smith for a Test and fined him off 100% of match fees was applied. Cameron Bancroft was fine 75% of his match fees.
Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly felt that the suspension of one Test was a very docile decision by the ICC. Interestingly, Smith along with deputy skipper David Warner quit the leadership mid game and Time Paine was asked to lead the side.
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Ganguly while talking to Indian Today said that the decision of suspending just for 1 game was a soft decision. He said, “I think the ban of just one match and 100 percent match fee is a bit soft.”
The former captain opined that the young Cameron Bancroft‘s career has been put on the line by their team and coach. He said, “Ball-tampering is not match-fixing or criminal offense but what is going to remain with Steve Smith, Darren Lehmann, David Warner and even that substitute who was in the dugout, is those walkie-talkie footages, are those instructions sent to a young cricketer to keep that sandpaper in his hand to scratch the ball. Why didn’t Steve Smith keep it? Why didn’t David Warner keep it? Why did you ask the young cricketer to do that on a cricket ball?”
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Ganguly while saying that match-fixing was a bigger crime than this but the Australians are going to be haunted by this forever. He said, “It’s not a crime as I said. Match-fixing is a bigger crime than what has happened. It’s the perception of people what will remain that oh God! these boys are not trustworthy. That will haunt them for the rest of their careers.”
Sourav also felt that likes of Steve Smith, David Warner, and Darren Lehmann are going to have a tough time. He said that with Australian PM making a statement on the issue, It will be difficult for the triplet to continue with the side as Cricket Australia will take a stronger action against the three.
