Ganguly's ignorance could prove expensive

Sourav Ganguly is facing possible censure from the International Cricket Council after describing the rules covering slow over-rates as "ridiculous" in the aftermath of India's five-run win in the opening one-day international against Pakistan.

Both Ganguly and Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan's captain, were fined because their sides bowled their overs too slowly. "The old rule was OK where a team with a slow over-rate was docked overs when they batted," Ganguly fumed. "At the break, when I went to the match referee to ask how many overs Pakistan had to get the target in, he said there would be no overs docked. I find that ridiculous. When you are in a tight situation, and when winning and not losing is so important, players don't mind forgoing money."

What angered Ganguly was that Pakistan's dilatory over-rate - not helped by a 20 no-balls and 10 wides - meant that they went 20 minutes over time.

Ganguly claimed that he was not told of this before the start of the match, but embarrassingly for him, the rules relating to fines replacing a reduced allocation of overs were changed 11 months ago, and so Pakistan received their full 50 overs in return. In any case, Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee, was not obliged to repeat the rules to the captains.

It is now up to Madugalle to decide whether Ganguly should be reported for a Level Two offence under the Code of Conduct - "Public criticism of or inapropriate comment on a match-related incident or a match official." The maximum penalty is 50 percent of the match fee and/or one Test or two ODI ban.

Ganguly admitted that was a surprise to him. "I didn't know about this rule. It was only when I went up to the match referee that I came to know that this new rule has been applied."