Banned players may not gain anything by going to court

A senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court said today that even if the banned cricketers move the court against the verdict given against them, they will not be able to achieve anything. Gitanath Ganguly, who specializes in handling cases for sportspersons and sports associations said that the court usually does not interfere in domestic matters of any association."It will also not involve itself in matters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India which is an autonomous body."

Ganguly made it clear that at the most any court would look into the process regarding the manner in which the judgement has been passed. "If the BCCI has the verdict following all the rules in its own constitution, then it has got nothing to worry about as far the banned cricketers are concerned. The court will look into whether the players had a chance to explain their stand and whether they have been informed of all developments regarding the investigation carried out by the Board," said Ganguly. He also added that if the BCCI had acted on the information provided by the CBI, then it would have been in trouble. "However, by conducting an enquiry of their own through the former Joint Director of the CBI, the BCCI has strengthened its stand," said Ganguly.

Meanwhile, quite a few members of the Cricket Association of Bengal have demanded that pictures of Mohammed Azharuddin be removed from the Eden Gardens. There are a number of photographs of the former Indian captain that have found a place in the captain's gallery situated in the lounge in between the two dressing rooms. The members have also requested the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Jagmohan Dalmiya to remove the pictures of Azharuddin. They feel that after being found guilty in the match-fixing allegations, Azharuddin has harmed the reputation of the game and as such, his pictures should not be preserved. It was at the Eden Gardens in 1984 that Azharuddin made his Test debut and scored a hundred. It was the very place which reestablished Azhar as the captain of the Indian team in 1993. It was the same place which reinforced him in the Indian side in 1997 when he scored a brilliant hundred against South Africa. Sadly, the place that had given him so much will not treasure his contributions to the game anymore.