Sanctions on Kotla in a month, says ICC

The International Cricket Council on Monday said it will take about a month's time to decide "appropriate sanction" on the Ferozeshah Kotla as an international venue in the wake of Sunday'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, cricket) will determine the issue to decide what is an appropriate sanction," Lorgat said.

India hosts South Africa in February-March next year and it is certain that the Delhi and District Cricket Association, which manages the Kotla, will not be allotted a match in the series.

The match was called off with Sri Lanka 83 for 5 in 23.3 overs after being put into bat by the home side.

India thus earned the dubious distinction of being involved in the only two abandoned One-day Internationals because of bad playing conditions. Earlier, against the same opposition, the second ODI of the series in Indore, on December 25, 1997, was called off after just 19 minutes of play.

"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.

Lorgat said the ICC had not given any report on the unsuitability of the Kotla pitch. It only sent a routine report on the inspection done prior to the preparations for the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.

"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.

Meanwhile, Emirates Elite Panel Match Referee Alan Hurst said the decision to abandon the match was taken by him, in consultation with on-field umpires Marais Erasmus and Shavir Tarapore, and both captains, as it was clear that the pitch had extremely variable bounce and was too dangerous for further play.

"I'd like to commend the on-field umpires and captains for continuing as long as they did in the hope that the pitch may settle down. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

"Before abandoning the match, consideration was given to shifting the match to a secondary pitch. However, it was deemed impractical as the secondary pitch was not adequately prepared," read a statement from Hurst.