May 1, 2008. Shane Warne, Rajastan Royals skipper accused Saurav Ganguly of not playing the game in the right spirit. This happened in their match between Knight Riders and Rajastan Royals, which is won by Rajastan Royals by 45 runs. Warne accused Ganguly on two accounts :
 

Saurav Ganguly, did come to the crease on time and Royals were waiting in the scorching sun for Saurav. Warne checked with umpire Rudy Kurtzen to see what the delay is but he does not have any clue. Then Warne walked up to Ganguly and said this “Mate, this is not about you, it is about the cricket. Lets start the game on time”. He recalls the spirt of cricket agreement which all captains signed in Bangalore on 18th April. Each side would take 1 hour 20 minutes to finish 20 overs. Saurav Ganguly hit a ball from Yusuf Pathan to the deep. Greame Smith came running and dived to the front to take the catch. Smith claimed the catch. Everybody is ecstatic except Saurav. He appealed to the umpire quite animately to refer the catch to the third umpire. The umpire was GM Pratap Kumar. He succumbed to the pressure and refered it to the third umpire. Third umpire, much to the dismay of Shane Warne and Greame Smith, ruled it in favor of the batsman. Catch looked clean to me. Warne’s accusation is Ganguly should take the word of Greame Smith who is a renowned captain of South Africa, and also he has no right to pressure the umpire to go for third umpire.

Other pertinent questions : 

Why did the Indian umpire GM Pratap Kumar refer to third umpire? 
Why did the third umpire gave the decision in favor of Ganguly? 
Now, my concern: Is IPL a comeback saga for whatever happened in Australia and to turn the heat back on India about the spirit of the game? First, we have the Harbhajan episode which gave a glimpse to the world and also lost India’s credibility in defending Harbhajan over the years. Now, this Ganguly episode where our spirit of game is questioned.

Whatever might be the case, it does not augur well for Indian cricket. Ganguly, an experienced cricketer should have been better informed.

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