BCCI Suspends Ambati Rayudu for Breaching Code of Conduct

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Wednesday (January 31), handed a two-match suspension to Hyderabad skipper Ambati Rayudu for breaching its Code of Conduct.

Rayudu was given the sentence for the way he protested the awarding of two runs to Karnataka’s total during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 match at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on January 11.

The incident happened during the second over of Karnataka’s innings when Mehdi Hasan, while fielding at deep mid-wicket, touched the boundary ropes with his foot while fielding the ball.

The on-field umpires thought that Hasan had fielded without touching the ropes, and so did not check with the third umpire. However, replays later showed that the fielder had clearly stepped on the boundary and two runs were added to Karnataka’s total before the start of the second innings.

The umpire’s decision, however, did not go down well with Rayudu who made his displeasure clear after Hyderabad fell two runs short of Karnataka’s’s total – the same number of runs which were added to Karnataka’s total at the end of their innings.

The Hyderabad players led by skipper Rayudu did not leave the field and remained in the middle and started demanding for a “super over” despite Karnataka being adjudged as the eventual winners. Rayudu along with Hyderabad team manager Krishan Rao later issued a notice by the BCCI.

“There was some confusion in the middle at the start of our innings. What I went and told the umpire was ‘sir you cannot change the score, we are batting for 204 as our target’. That is exactly what I told him, and he said ‘we’ll see it at the end, let the match start. The match was stopped for nine minutes, before the second innings. They had no business to stop the match once the target was declared. Then, what we said was we were playing for 204, and that was my exact words,” Rayudu had said after the game.

“At the end, we went and asked to start the Super Over. That is exactly our point of contention. We never even thought of stopping the second match, that has got nothing to do with us. We were insisting that our match was not complete, we still have to play the Super Over. That is exactly why we went to the middle; we were actually going to warm up then.

“I’m sure of the rules. If he had changed immediately, then it would have been perfect. Even if somebody gets out and you come inside and see that it’s not out, you don’t call the person back. Even in case of a no-ball not correctly called, you cannot call somebody back or add the scores. I don’t know what has happened, but we were playing for 204. That is exactly what I wanted to tell, and we were waiting for the Super Over which never happened,” he had added.