Pitch-fixing groundsman
axed from Test duty
The Indian groundsman accused of doctoring a Test match wicket on the orders of a bookmaker will not prepare the pitch for the Test against Zimbabwe later this month, officials said on Wednesday.
Ram Adhar Choudhury, one of the curators of the Feroseshah Kotla ground in New Delhi, was suspended from his 122-dollars a month job by the Delhi District Cricket Association and issed a show-cause notice why his services should not be terminated.
"We are not happy doing this, but we have suspended Ram Adhar for 15 days and asked him to explain his conduct," DDCA sports secretary Sunil Dev said.
"He will definitely not be involved in preparing the wicket for the first Test against Zimbabwe in Delhi from November 18," Dev said.
The groundsman confirmed he had received the show-cause notice, and added he is seeking help in replying to it.
"I am not educated, I can't even read or understand what is in that notice," Ram Adhar said.
"I am looking for someone to explain me all this and answer the charges."
The match-fixing report by the Central Bureau of Investigation said Ram Adhar had received 50,000 rupees (1,100 dollars) from ex-Test cricketer Ajay Sharma for underpreparing the wicket for the one-off Test against Australia in 1996.
The report quoted Sharma as saying he paid the money to the groundsman on the advice of bookmaker Mukesh Gupta.
India won the match by seven wickets in less than four days with the spinners bagging 14 of the 20 wickets. English umpire Peter Willey, who was standing in that match, had said then it was the worst first-day wicket he had seen.
Ram Adhar, who worked on the Kotla staff for 25 years and was drawing a monthly salary of 5,500 rupees, denied any wrongdoing and said he had been beaten by CBI officials to confess.
The CBI on Monday denied the charge, clarifying that both Sharma and Ram Adhar had admitted on their own that the Kotla wicklet had been doctored on orders from the bookmaker.
Sharma is among a host of Indian and international cricketers named in the report released last week.
The five Indian players named have, meanwhile, been directed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to appear before it's vigilance commissioner, K. Madhavan, in Madras on Sunday.
Madhavan, a former CBI director, will speak to the five -- Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Nayan Mongia and Sharma -- before giving his recommendations to the BCCI.
The five have been suspended from playing first class cricket for 15 days till the BCCI acts on the advice of Madhavan.
Mail Cricket Editor
