Gautam Gambhir banned for One Test Match

Breaking News! Match referee Chris Broad (England) favoured Kangaroos while hearing the on-field spat between Gautam Gambhir and Shane Watson. While Chris Broad imposed a fine of 10% of his match fee on Shane Watson, he went on to ban in-form Gautam Gambhir for one test match, who has been tormenting the Australians in the series by his brilliant batting display. The one test match ban means Gambhir won't be playing in the fourth test match in Nagpur.

Gambhir has already scored one double century, one century and two half centuries in this series. It is shocking that Watson was let off with a mild punishment, even though he started the fight and provoked Gambhir to get into the brawl. It could be an "error of judgement" on the part of Chris Broad or "intentional". It's an irony that Indian and Pakistani players are always punished harder than Australians and English players. The Australian players always start the fight, but get away with mild punishment because of these umpires and referees who are always biased in favour of Australians.

It is not immediately known what course of action BCCI will take on this matter. The public sentiment has turned against the Australians and white match officials. Leading Indian cricketers have condemned the ban on Gambhir and ridiculed the 10% match fee fine on Shane Watson. Ironically, Zaheer Khan was fined 50% of his match fee during the Mohali Test for the same offence.

The issue is likely to be snowballed into a major controversy, thanks to irresponsible and biased hearing of a match referee. While nobody gives Gambhir a clean chit, there is no doubt that punishment meted out to him is harsh as compared to that of Shane Watson. In addition, the match referee should have pulled up the Kangaroos for provoking Indian players without any reason. Dear Aussies, play well to win. Sledging and dirty tactics of provocation won't help you to win against the formidable Indian side. You are no longer World Champion, admit it or not....