Leicestershire Penalised for Poor Pitch, Cites Ganguly Biopic Filming as One of Reasons

London: Allowing "unscheduled filming" of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly's biopic was cited as a reason by Leicestershire for the poor pitch quality at its ground but the reasoning was dismissed by a disciplinary panel which handed a 27-point penalty to the county club for breaching pitch regulations.

Leicestershire has 10 days to appeal the Cricket Discipline Panel's verdict, which has pushed them to the brink of relegation from division one.

The panel, which upheld the Cricket Regulator's charge for a "poor pitch", deducted 19 points which the Foxes earned from their 42-run win over Glamorgan at Grace Road (August 20-23) and slapped an additional eight-point penalty.

Furthermore, the Panel also levied a 5000 pounds fine on the club.

Callum Lewin, the head groundsman at Grace Road, told the Cricket Regulator that the pitch prepared for the match against Glamorgan was affected by a series of circumstances, which were beyond his control.

"It's a used pitch this time around. We had two T20s on it 10 weeks ago. There were a lot of circumstances leading up to the game that were just out of my control, such as the weather was 35 degrees.

"We also had an unscheduled Bollywood filming event four days before (the match vs Glamorgan), and I wasn't allowed to work on the pitch. I wasn't allowed to cover it or anything," Lewin told the Cricket Regulator.

The Bollywood movie's filming, which took place four days before the match, however, was dismissed as a mitigating factor by the disciplinary panel because the shooting was held only for a day at Grace Road.

In the subsequent match, the pitch offered uneven bounce, "created by moving cracks."

Ian Ramage, the match referee for the match, provided 43 examples of uneven bounce in his match log.

Subsequently, the tribunal arrived at the conclusion that while Leicestershire did not purposefully prepare a "poor pitch", their approach to preparing the deck was "unreasonable."

Leicestershire said they are studying the verdict.

"The Club notes the Cricket Discipline Panel's decision, which imposes an eight-point deduction, an additional eight-point deduction suspended until the end of the 2027 season, and a financial penalty of 5,000 pounds.

"Having received the Panel's decision, the Club is reviewing its position and considering all available options," the club said in a statement.

Now, Leicestershire (89 points from 12 matches) will have to beat Hampshire in the ongoing Division One match to stay in the top-tier county league.

Leicestershire Face 27-point penalty for poor pitch, cites Ganguly biopic filming as one of reasons