Kirti Azad condemns Jadeja's penalization, says BCCI must have fixed it earlier

Former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad today condemned Indian all rounder Ravindra Jadeja's penalization over his tussle with James Anderson, but suspected Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for fixing it.

"BCCI should defend Jadeja, why should he be penalized, we have had this tiff even before I had started playing cricket and it will carry on after Jadeja also. With such minor tiffs on the field, you will have to penalize four to five people everyday because it happens all the time on the field," said Azad.

"It's a different matter alltogether when Anderson settled to beat or pushed Jadeja and abused him, so that is a different matter all together. So I think Jadeja has been very wrongly penalized," he added.

Earlier today, BCCI had revealed that it is not satisfied with the ICC's decision to find Indian all rounder Ravindra Jadeja guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Code for Players and Player Support Personnel.

Moreover Azad suspected BCCI for fixing the penalty earlier with the ICC.

"BCCI and the IPL are known for spot fixing and match fixing, everyday new revolutions are coming on, how the owners have been fixing and matches and spot fixing and doing whatever they want to. So this also BCCI must have fixed with the ICC, with the ECB stating that we will penalize Jadeja 50 percent so there is no hue and cry with the ECB and we will penalize Anderson on level 3 charges," said Azad.

He added that BCCI can easily save Ravindra Jadeja and he is been penalized unnecessarily for no fault of his.

Jadeja was involved in an incident with James Anderson during the second day of the first cricket Test against England at Trent Bridge on July 10 and was fined 50 per cent of his match fee by David Boon of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.

The BCCI revealed in a statement that it is not satisfied with the verdict and reserves its right to appeal against the sentence.

The BCCI also added that it believes that Jadeja was not at fault and supports the all rounder fully.

The ICC Match Referees had found Jadeja guilty of the offence, which he was originally charged with, but found him guilty under Article 2.1.8, that relates to 'conduct contrary to the spirit of the game'.

England team manager Phil Neale had reported Jadeja for a breach of Article 2.2.11 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel on 16 July for his alleged altercation with Anderson after they had left the field for lunch.

Under the Code, Mr Boon held a hearing in Southampton on Thursday evening, which was attended by both the players, their legal counsels, witnesses as well as BCCI's MV Sridhar, Phil Neale and Paul Downton of the ECB, and the ICC's Ethics and Regulatory Lawyer.

The hearing lasted nearly 150 minutes before Mr Boon and included oral statements by the players, video footage and cross-examination of the witnesses by Kendrah Potts, counsel representing the ECB, and Jonathan Ellis, who represented Jadeja.

Under article 7.6.5 of the Code, Mr Boon was empowered to find Jadeja guilty of an offence of a lower level than that with which he was charged if he found him not guilty of the original offence.