Following yesterday's cricket encounter between Sri Lanka and India, SLC and BCCI, the cricket boards of the two respective countries held a joint press conference in which they addressed several issues regarding the incidents happened which seemed clear breaches of BCCI Code of Conduct.
Umpire Kumara Dharmasena was found guilty following him giving Virender Sehwag out LBW when the batsman was only 88 runs short of a well deserved 100. We find this act unsportsmanlike, and should be avoided in future games, remarked Nishantha Ranatunga the secretary of SLC. This is not the way we would like our players and officials to approach the game, hence Dharmasena will be severely penalized for his behavior. He faces a prospective ban of 4 international games, and will be likely to lose all his match fee for the Sunday's game. However, the BCCI officials confirmed to us that Dharmasena went to the Indian dressing room during the break and apologized to Sehwag, an act of showing his remorse which might come in his favor when giving the final verdict. Batsman Virender Sehwag has confirmed this on Twitter saying "He came to me apologizing, and I accepted it being the gentleman I am". Mr. Ranatunga extended his apologies to the BCCI on behalf of Dharmasena at the press conference.
Furthermore, Mr. Ranatunga stated that they have launched an investigation regarding the conduct of the selection committee of SLC which is headed by the former cricketer Aravinda de Silva. We are questioning their move to bring Thissara Perera into the Sri Lankan lineup out of nowhere, who dealt a decisive blow to India's chances of winning the game by taking a 5 wicket haul. We have appointed highly reputed investigators to find out if this was a deliberate move by Mr. De. Silva and his committee to defeat Indian and not upholding the Spirit of Cricket. If found guilty, they may face severe penalties which may include life bans on selecting anything whatsoever. We do not tolerate this kind of behavior, as plotting to win a game of cricket against India is a clear breach of BCCI Code of Conduct, said a visibly angry Ranatunga. The fate of Thissara Perera is not yet clear, but he is more than likely to face a ban of more than a year preventing him taking part in next year's world cup. Ranatunga again apologized to the BCCI regarding the matter.
An official from the BCCI stated that Asad Rauf, the Pakistani umpire who gave a horrendous decision against Yuvraj 'Water Boy' Singh has also extended his formal apologies to the BCCI and the Water Boy himself. He told us that he deeply regret the moment of insanity where he gave the accomplished Water Boy out, and will make sure would do no such thing in future. Meanwhile, a senior official at the BCCI who wished to remain unnamed informed this reporter that Mr. Rauf has also offered to give five decisions in India's favor in the next world cup if he was given the opportunity to officiate those matches. When asked what the response of the BCCI was, he replied that they have no intentions of doing things that would go against the BCCI Code of Conduct.
The SLC secretary also said that they were launching a separate investigation about the manner in which Sri Lankan openers batted in reply to India's total. They racked up 79 runs in mere 9 overs, a severe spanking of Indian bowlers which does not seem in right spirit of the game, added Mr. Ranatunga. However, they (Dilshan and Jayawardene) have sent messages to the SLC saying that they got out deliberately, and asked us to take it into consideration in giving the final verdict. Finally we have asked Kumar Sangakkara to explain himself why he denied Ishant Sharma a well deserved hat-trick. If he is unable to satisfactorily explain why he failed to uphold the spirit of cricket by letting Sharma take the hat-trick, he may face severe penalties, stated the secretary of SLC. Mr. Ranatunga extended another apology to BCCI for the players' disgraceful behavior.
Being asked by a reporter whether these moves have got anything to do with SLC being broke and BCCI being their only ally, an outraged Mr. Nishantha Ranatunga imposed a life ban on the reporter right then and there, preventing him from attending any more SLC press conferences, thus ending the proceedings for the day. At the end of the day, the Spirit of Cricket was upheld, and all was well, said a beaming BCCI official on his way out.