The ICC on Monday said it will take about a month’s time to decide an “appropriate sanction” on Feroz Shah Kotla as an international venue in the wake of yesterday’s pitch fiasco which led to the abandonment of the fifth and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka.
“Well, it is a well documented and transparent process. We have sought BCCI’s comment and given them 14 days time to respond. Thereafter, Ranjan Madugalle (Chief Match Referee) and Dave Richardson (General Manager of cricket) will determine the issue to decide what is an appropriate sanction,” Lorgat told PTI.
“It is premature and unfair to pre-empt what the match referee and Dave Richardson would conclude and it would be unfair to say now whether the Kotla pitch is unfit,” Lorgat said.
“It is there in the guidelines and it is between Madugalle and match referee Alan Hurst to go into it. I don’t want to say anything more about it now,” he said.
Lorgat said the ICC had not given any report on the unsuitability of the Kotla pitch. It had only sent a routine report on the inspection done prior to the preparations of the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent.
“It is too early to conclude. You must wait for the process to take its course. It will take five days for the match referee and the chief referee to discuss the issue and then BCCI would be given a notice to respond in 14 days,” he said.
“Then it depends on Madugalle to prepare the final report which would take about 10 to 14 days. So, it would be fair to say that it would take about a month’s time to complete the entire process. But his is not the final word on the time schedule for the process,” he added.
