Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant was banned for one match and fined INR 30 lakhs on Saturday. This was after his team committed the slow over-rate fine for the third time in the IPL 2024.
This means the DC team will miss the services of Rishabh Pant for their crucial match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday.
The Delhi Capitals coach and management decided to appeal the ban and, in a document, where the decision of the BCCI Ombudsman can be found, the details of DC's appeal can be found.
"Mr. Rishabh Pant, Mr. Sourav Ganguly and Mr. Ricky Ponting have appeared on behalf of the Delhi Capitals along with Mr. Sunil Gupta, CEO of Delhi Capitals. Mr. Hemang Amin, BCCI CEO has appeared on behalf of BCCI. Mr. Daniel Manohar, the concerned Match Referee, has also appeared," read the document.
Interestingly, the basis of DC’s appeal was the RR captain Sanju Samson’s dismissal in the match. Samson was caught at the boundary by Shai Hope in a contentious catch. However, the TV umpire was swift in his decision and gave Samson out. There was a bit of delay as Samson argued his case with the on-field umpires.
The document further stated the argument of Ganguly, DC Director of Cricket, regarding the case.
"Mr. Sourav Ganguly, appearing for the Appellant, has submitted that during the course of the innings of Rajasthan Royals, 13 sixes were hit by their batters but the consequential Ball Retrieval Allowance of 0.30 minutes has only been granted on three (3) occasions to the Appellant. Further, it has been submitted that the 3.0 minutes allowance granted for the review of the dismissal of Mr. Sanju Samson (batter of Rajasthan Royals) was insufficient as Mr. Samson had protested, which consumed extra time, and the dismissal involved a review time of more than 3 minutes,” it read.
The document also revealed the statement made by DC coach Ricky Ponting.
"Mr. Ricky Ponting, also appearing for the Appellant has further submitted that owing to delivery of multiple wide deliveries towards the late end of the innings by the bowlers of the Delhi Capitals, there remained no time with the Appellant to compensate for the delay caused, as there remained no overs to help boost the over rate by the use of spinners. Mr. Ponting has also submitted that the Appellant, who is the Captain of the Delhi Capitals and is a wicket-keeper batsman, should not be held responsible for the delay caused by the bowlers in the match,” the document stated.
However, their arguments were rejected and Rishabh Pant’s ban was upheld.
"The crux of the submissions of the Appellant revolves around the issue of 13 sixes hit by Rajasthan Royals and the dismissal of Mr. Samson, in the context of both of which it has been submitted that adequate allowance has not been provided to the Appellant. However, the Appellant has not submitted any evidence from the record to substantiate their submissions. No statistical information has been submitted explaining exactly how much time was additionally consumed by the 13 sixes and in the review of the dismissal of Mr. Samson.
When confronted with the question of evidence for their submissions, the Appellant submitted that since the Team is not provided the actual video footage of the Match, the Appellant is unable to provide the calculations as to the time which was consumed in ball retrieval and reviews, as well as other delays,” statement concluded.
