Sourav Ganguly pleads fans not to blame BCCI for Operation "Cricket Gate"
Sourav Ganguly has stated that the BCCI can't be blamed for the Pune pitch scandal while demanding an investigation into Pandurang Salgaonkar sharing crucial information with reporters disguised as bookies. Ganguly added, in India, that there a no way of stopping anyone from visiting the pitch.
Ahead of the second ODI between India and New Zealand, the pitch curator of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) stadium, Salgaoncar leaked inside information during the sting operation which was conducted by India Today. Ganguly also opined that the Indian cricket board could not be blamed for the incident as it was not possible to keep an eye on everyone involved in the game.
"I am watching this on TV. I really don't know what Salgaonkar is trying to say. I don't think there is any way of stopping people from reaching the pitch. That is an issue in Indian cricket,” the former Indian skipper told India Today.
"I don't know whether it's been going on for a while. BCCI has had all the securities but at the end of the day, they cannot look into everything. You can have 15 cameras after one person but if he wants to do something wrong he will find out a way to do it.
"Anti-corruption of the ICC and BCCI have everybody connected. When an international match happens everybody comes under the purview. No system is foolproof and things happen. Just to fire the BCCI for what Pandurang Ssalgaonkar has done is not correct. You cannot only control it to a certain extent."
Salgaonkar not only disclosed the nature of the pitch but also took the undercover reporter, who met the curator as a bookie, to the ground. According to the BCCI and ICC codes on corruption, no outsider is allowed to have an access to the field before the match. Then, he also agreed to doctor the pitch according to the bookies' demand.
"(At this point) I don't have much to say on this as I really don't know what he was trying to do. I don't know how he can tweak the pitch in one day and prepare it accordingly for a bookie. I don't know in what context he was saying this was he saying this in haste. Let me go through the matter first," he said.
"This has to go till the end and an investigation must take place. But the game must go on. The match hasn't started and the pitch will be same for both teams, so I don't think it will be a problem.
"If Pandurang Salgaonkar has done something he should be punished. But it should not hamper the progress of the cricket match. The curator needs to be taken off. At the end of the day the cricketers have not done anything, the match officials have not done anything. I don't see a problem in the game going on.
"CK Khanna is the president of the BCCI and he has the right give his opinion, whether it is right or wrong is another issue. It is important to take control of the situation. I personally feel the match should go on."
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