NEW DELHI: Veteran Indian opener
Gautam Gambhir was on Saturday given a suspended four-match ban from first-class cricket for his ugly confrontation with Delhi Ranji coach
KP Bhaskar
earlier this year, a punishment he said will abide by.
"I have seen honourable Justice Sen's order and will abide by it," Gambhir told PTI.
It means that Gambhir may not serve the sentence at all, if he does not commit any similar transgression in the next two years.
Bhaskar and Gambhir had a heated altercation after Delhi's campaign ended in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Bhubaneswar earlier this year with allegations of former India captain abusing the coach, something he has categorically denied.
The committee came hard on Gambhir for his "unruly" behaviour.
"It is evident from the above that the actions/conduct of Mr Gambhir on 6th March 2017 against the coach and the confrontation were pre-meditated as he called for the meeting after the match at lunchtime on a day when he was not even playing the match and he had remained in the hotel, since about lunchtime.
"It is further evident that Mr Gambhir intended to use some very sharp/inappropriate language and admittedly the arguments between the coach and Mr Gambhir were expected to be so 'heated' that he thought it prudent to save some of the younger players from witnessing it and therefore sent them outside the dressing room before starting the confrontation," the statement said.
Gambhir, on his part, has made multiple allegations of Bhaskar making youngsters like
Nitish Rana,
Unmukt Chand and
Pawan Negi "insecured" and "playing with their careers".
Acting on Gambhir's complaints, the committee also recommended the formation of a grievance redressal forum.
"The Committee also recommends, in view of the significant grievances raised by Mr Gambhir during the hearing, which seem to have been given vent to in an inappropriate manner on account of lack of a proper grievance redressal system for the team members, that a grievance redressal system within the team is urgently required," the statement read.
"It is also recommended that disciplinary action rules and mechanism of imposing penalty are required to be formulated to inculcate discipline in the team members and for predictability and deterrence, where players know that an act of indiscipline would have serious repercussions and are therefore deterred from committing them."
The committee observed that the position of a coach deserves respect and dignity from his players.
"The position of a coach among the team members is of high respect and dignity. It is a serious disgrace to a coach to be humiliated in front of team members by one of the team members even though if it is a senior player.
"The actions of Mr Gambhir, however well intended, cannot be said to be in the interest of the team, or its performance or the game as it was done on the very last day of the season and therefore could not have been any corrective effect. The actions of Mr Gambhir were not in the spirit of the game," the statement said.