Mumbai: Former India skipper Saurav Ganguly today backed Steve Smith, saying he
sympathised with the former Australian captain and believed that
whatever happened in the Cape Town Test was not cheating.
I
sympathise with Steve Smith, he is a fantastic player and hopefully he
will come back and keep scoring runs for Australia. Because I don't
think it's cheating, actually I don't believe it is cheating, an
outspoken Ganguly said after launching a book titled 'A Century is Not
Enough'.
Smith and David Warner has been banned for one year for
their role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Cameron
Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban by Cricket Australia (CA).
I
just wish them (Smith, Warner and Bancroft) luck and hopefully they
come back and play well. It's not right to call it cheating, and I wish
them luck, and come back and (play) well, Ganguly later told reporters.
Smith today said that he won't challenge the ban imposed by CA.
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and India player Rohit Sharma were also present on the occasion.
Ganguly
and Tendulkar narrated several anecdotes of their careers and also
spoke on the famous incident of Ganguly removing his T-shirt after the
Natwest Trophy triumph at the Lord's in 2002.
PTI
