India upset that James Anderson escaped without punishment following altercation with Ravindra Jadeja
India have reacted with incredulity at the fact that James Anderson has not been found guilty in the incident involving Ravindra Jadeja at Trent Bridge. The alleged incident between Anderson and Jadeja took place when the players were walking off for lunch on day 2 of the 1st Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
In the last over before lunch, the Indian all-rounder had survived a close appeal for caught behind off the bowling of Anderson. The England fast bowler, frustrated at the decision not going his way, supposedly started sledging the left-handed batsman and continued doing so as the players were heading inside the dressing rooms. The players walked up the stairs through the crowd and then entered the narrow corridor, where the pushing incident supposedly took place, and then through a common staircase which leads you to the individual dressing rooms.
Lack of evidence hurt India
While the ICC’s ACSU camera caught the players walking up the stairs through the crowd, there is no camera in place at the corridor, essentially making it one team’s version versus the other at the hearing.
While the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has admitted that Anderson did make physical contact with Jadeja, they have defended him by stating that the Indian provoked him by turning back aggressively towards their star bowler and that he was just resorting to self-defence.
England had Stuart Broad, Matt Prior and Ben Stokes as their witnesses at the hearing while India had R Ashwin and Gautam Gambhir in addition to their physiotherapist, Evan Speechly, present at the hearing. The hearing, which was presided over by judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis via a video conference from Australia, went on for over six hours, but ultimately India would feel extremely let down at Anderson not being punished for what they see as extremely petulant behaviour.
The hearing was also attended by the BCCI lawyers, but they were permitted to cross-check the witnesses only in the appeal against the guilty verdict of Jadeja, which they managed to reverse successfully. Jadeja had been found guilty of a Level 1 offence by David Boon, the ICC match referee, and was fined 50% of his match fee.
MS Dhoni’s reputation takes a hit
This verdict is a personal blow to MS Dhoni, the Indian captain, who was adamant that Anderson was in the wrong and wanted the BCCI to lodge a complaint despite the board not being too keen to sully their relations with the ECB.
According to ESPN Cricinfo, the England witnesses were examined separately and were nigh-on identical in their version of events. A detailed verdict is yet to be given by the ICC, and the BCCI has reserved its right to comment till it sees the judgment.
The BCCI, however, do not have the option of appealing against the verdict as it was the ICC’s case once the charge had been laid. The only person who now has the authority to challenge the verdict is Dave Richardson, CEO of the ICC. In case he appeals, the ICC's legal head will form an Appeal Panel consisting of 3 members from the ICC's Code of Conduct commission. Till such time, Lewis' decision will remain in effect, unless the Appeal Panel decides otherwise.