Skipper Sourav Ganguly faces a one-Test ban if India does not improve its over-rate dramatically in Australia's first innings in the first cricket Test at the Gabba in Brisbane.
India are presently nine overs short of the required over-rate and according to ICC's rule book, if a fielding side is behind by more than five overs, 10 per cent of each players' gross match fee as well as 20 per cent of the captain's fee is liable to be deducted.
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But the rule book also empowers the match referee to enforce a Level Two offence of the Code of Conduct against the fielding captain, which is up to 50 per cent of the match fee or a one-Test ban to the captain.
Ganguly is conscious about the slow over-rate and instructed his fielders to run between overs during the 90 minutes of play possible on the second day, today.
The issue was serious enough for match referee Mike Procter to call Ganguly at the lunch break and tell him of the dangers that lay ahead.
Ganguly admitted that the over-rate was slow yesterday but hoped the team would be able to bring it down below the five-over mark.
"At present we are just seven overs short; that's what Procky [Procter] told me. We would definitely try to bring it to at least five overs short or thereabout," Ganguly said.
The Indian skipper confessed he knows the real danger is for him only, as the captain is liable to be fined and suspended.
Former Australia captain Greg Chappell said it is the worst over-rate he had probably seen in his career.
"It's always difficult when the conditions are wet and you've certainly got to make sure the ball is dry. But to be nine down at the end of the day is probably as bad as I've seen," Chappell said.
Chappell though took care to defend the Indian captain, who had flown down a few months ago to take batting lessons from the Australian master on how to play short-pitched bowling.
"I don't think it was a deliberate tactic. It's more about the mental attitude and they need to be aware that by letting it slow down, they are taking themselves down into a never-ending spiral," he said.
Ganguly is aware of Procter's tough reputation as match referee and would hate to get on the wrong side of the rules, lest he opens himself to a severe punishment.
Procter has acted against the Indians in the past on slow over-rate, docking Ganguly and his men 35 per cent of their match fees against New Zealand in the Hamilton Test earlier this year.
Procter is seen in international circles as a changed man after receiving flak for not ruling against Glenn McGrath or Brian Lara during that infamous confrontation in the West Indies earlier this year, which made headlines in the media.
McGrath and Lara stood inches apart during the Antigua Test this year and exchanged foul words as relations between the two teams dipped to a new low.
Procter had later dismissed the incident as something which happens in Test cricket all the time and said one should not make too much of it "as then the colour would go out of international cricket".
Somehow, the rest of the cricket world did not see it that way and so vehement was the protest that Cricket Australia actually declared they would be dealing with sledging far more strictly in future.
Cricket Australia said they had been flooded by protest letters from cricket fans and did not want their champion team to be known for sledging rather than its outstanding talent.
Procter understandably got a rap from the ICC as well and then set out to prove himself as a stricter match referee.
One of the international cricketers to suffer from Procter's conscious stand was former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif, who was handed a five-match ban for wrongly claiming a catch against Bangladesh earlier this year.
Following are the relevant portions of the Code of Conduct on the failure of a fielding captain to keep up to the required over-rate:
- Players and team officials shall at all times conduct play within the spirit of the game as well as within the laws of the game.
- For each of the first five overs short of the minimum overs requires five per cent of each players' gross match fee would be cut. In the case of the captain, the amount shall be 10 per cent of the gross match fee.
- For the sixth and subsequent over short of the minimum overs, it requires 10 per cent of each players' gross match fee and 20 per cent of the captain's match fees to be cut.
In addition to these penalties, the Code calls for the captain to be charged with conduct contrary to the spirit of the game on the basis of time wasting. The penalty for this Level two offence is a fine between 50 and 100 per cent of the captain's match fee and/or a one-match Test ban.
