The Board of Control for Cricket in India will appeal against Sourav Ganguly's two-match suspension as soon as it receives an official communication about the ban from the International Cricket Council.
Describing the Indian skipper's suspension as "harsh", the BCCI also said any decision to replace Ganguly for the Test series against South Africa will be taken only after the outcome of the appeal is known.
"We have not recieved any official word from the ICC. Whatever has come to us is through media but there is no official communication. We will appeal against the decision as soon as the official letter from ICC comes to us," BCCI President Ranbir Singh Mahendra told reporters in Jaipur on Monday.
The letter from ICC is expected any time, he said, adding the appeal would be based on the content of the ICC letter.
Ganguly was found guilty of breaching clause C1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for his team's slow over rate in Saturday's Platinum Jubilee match against Pakistan. Since this was Ganguly's second offence within a span of 12 months, the charge was automatically upgraded to a level three offence.
Mahendra said the BCCI would raise the incidents which caused the delay in its appeal.
"These points will include Salman Butt's injury, his asking for runner, dew factor and wet outfield and also change of balls which took more time than it does usually."
When asked whether it is worth appealing to ICC against a level three offence, he said, "Why not, what happened in Mike Denness case? Everything is possible. Why are the courts for? We are just demanding justice from ICC. We feel the decision is too harsh."
Asked if a replacement for Ganguly for the Kanpur Test had been decided, the BCCI chief said it would be decided only after the outcome of the appeal is known.
"The matter of Ganguly's replacement has not been discussed as yet," he said.
Mahendra, who is here for the three-day practice match between the visiting South Africans and the Board President's XI, also defended the decision to announce the team for the South Africa series in Kolkata instead of waiting for the tour opener to conclude.
"All the selectors were present in Kolkata, so the team was announced there only," he said insisting the decision did not reduce the importance of the tour match.
"The team for the second Test is yet to be announced and performance here will certainly count," he said.
Asked about physiotherapist Andrew Leipus, who is reported to have expressed the desire to relinquish his job, Mahendra said he would continue for a while. He also said that frequent injuries to players did not mean that Leipus was not doing his job properly.
Mahendra also took note of the ordinance in some states which requires Sports Federations to register themselves with the state government and amend their constitution on the guidelines provided in the ordinance.
"We realise that this ordinance is coming hard at some of our units but as the matter is in court we cannot comment on it. But we are going to help units like that in Rajasthan which are feeling the heat the most. But how and when will have to be discussed at the Working Committee meeting of the BCCI," he said.
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