Sourav Ganguly has delivered a withering assessment of the decision to report Pune Warriors all-rounder Marlon Samuels for a suspected illegal bowling action, suggesting that there were other bowlers in the IPL that also deserved to be reported.
“I'm surprised that he has been warned,” Ganguly said here on Monday.
“I should not be saying this because we are all part of a competition. But if Marlon Samuels gets warned for his action, then there are probably a few around who are worse.
“If you look around the IPL, I'll be honest, there are worse actions going on. So you've got to be very, very careful when you warn someone and let somebody else go.
“Whoever has done it has got to be careful because Marlon has bowled for the West Indies for two years and hasn't been warned. He has bowled in the first three games of the IPL and hasn't been warned. And I don't know what he did different in the fourth game (over CSK) to be warned. So we'll have to be fair to everyone.”
Ganguly, however, backed Samuels to the hilt, adamant that he would continue to bowl.
“The problem is that they haven't been able to hit him into the stands. That's the problem. I just told him, ‘keep bowling those yorkers and we'll see what happens'.”
Although the contrast between Pune's and RCB's form was huge, it wouldn't matter a jot come match-day, Ganguly felt. “In this format, form keeps going up and down. RCB is a good side and this game depends on what happens that particular day.”
