BCCI withdraws complaint against Australia
In a
dramatic U-turn, the BCCI has withdrawn the complaint it had filed with the ICC
against Australia captain Steven Smith and batsman Peter Handscomb in relation
to the DRS controversy in
the Bengaluru Test.* The
report, filed on Thursday afternoon, had been for an alleged level 2 offence,
for acting against the spirit of cricket. On Thursday night, however, the BCCI
issued a release saying it had withdrawn the report after its CEO Rahul Johri
had met with Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland in Mumbai.
Minutes
after the BCCI issued the release, Cricket Australia did the same. "CEO of
BCCI Mr Rahul Johri and CEO of Cricket Australia Mr James Sutherland met at the
BCCI headquarters in Mumbai today and, in discussing the matters at length,
agreed the importance of bringing back the focus to the game and the much
anticipated next Test match in Ranchi," it said.
"Subsequently,
BCCI will withdraw the complaint filed with ICC with an expectation that the
two captains will meet prior to the Ranchi Test and commit to lead their teams
by example and play the rest of the series, in the right spirit, demonstrating
that the players from both teams are true ambassadors for their respective
countries."
This
was the second statement advocating a cordial conclusion to the matter in two
days. Yesterday, the ICC said no action would
be taken against any of the players in the matter, and advised the teams to
"focus their energies on the third Test in Ranchi next week".
The
incident occurred on the final day of the Test, when Smith looked towards the
dressing room after having chatted with non-striker Handscomb when given out
lbw in a tense chase, apparently for clues on whether to review the call or
not. Umpire Nigel Llong intervened immediately, and sent Smith on his way. In
his post-match conference, Smith put his actions down to a "brain
fade". India captain Virat Kohi disagreed with that, saying Australia took
help from their dressing room on at least three occasions before making their
mind up on DRS reviews in the Test. Kohli said he had made the umpires aware of
the matter on two occasions before the third one played out in full view.
The
complaint laid by the BCCI, however, was directed only against the Smith
incident, and not any other alleged instance.
As
per the ICC's regulations, BCCI CEO Johri had up to 48 hours since the time of
the incident - which happened in the middle session on Tuesday - to file a
complaint.
I referred smudga to look at the box... my fault and was unaware of the rule. Shouldn't take anything away from what was an amazing game!
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