CA advises BCCI to behave more responsibly

Melbourne, Nov 6 (UNI) Strongly criticising the BCCI over its appeal against the one-Test ban on Gautam Gambhir, Cricket Australia (CA) today advised its Indian counterpart to use its financial powers more responsibily and in better ways.

Indian opener Gambhir was banned for one-Test after he was found guilty of breaching an ICC code of conduct. But the BCCI appealed against the decision which was upheld by the appeals commissioner.

CA chief executive James Sutherland criticised BCCI for challenging the ICC verdict on Gambhir's one-Test ban.

''The power that India has is connected a lot to financial contribution they make to the game,'' Sutherland said.

''Something like 70 per cent of cricket's revenue is generated out of India and to that end, it means that they have, in recent times, come to realise that with that they can influence more than perhaps they have done in the past.

''With that ability to influence obviously comes power, and as someone once told me, with wealth comes responsibility,'' Sutherland was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

''That's something that, I guess, ideally, we would like to see India to continue take a leadership role in helping the game to be better rather than ... taking these sort of issues, with Gambhir, down the wrong path,'' he added.

Sutherland further accused the BCCI of not accepting the umpiring decisions especially on Code of Conduct issues, and said the BCCI has always taken its defeats on different levels.

''We have seen in the last five years probably at least four times where they tried some sort of approach to appeal and where the appeal hasn't been successful that they've taken it to another level,'' Sutherland added.

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