Leicestershire blame Ganguly biopic filming for poor pitch, get 27-point penalty

Leicestershire's claim that filming for Sourav Ganguly's biopic disrupted pitch preparations was rejected by a disciplinary panel. The county were handed a 27-point penalty and £5,000 fine, leaving them facing fresh relegation danger.MS Dhoni made his debut under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy (Reuters Photo)Leicestershire cited the filming of former India captain Sourav Ganguly's biopic as one of the reasons behind the poor quality of the pitch at Grace Road, but the explanation was rejected by a disciplinary panel which handed the county a 27-point penalty for breaching pitch regulations.The Cricket Discipline Panel upheld the Cricket Regulator's charge of preparing a "poor pitch" for Leicestershire's County Championship match against Glamorgan from August 20 to 23.Leicestershire won the match by 42 runs, but the panel deducted the 19 points they earned from the victory and imposed a further eight-point penalty. The club was also fined £5,000.The county now have 10 days to appeal the verdict, which has left them in danger of relegation from Division One. Leicestershire head groundsman Callum Lewin told the Cricket Regulator that several factors beyond his control had affected the preparation of the pitch."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 against Glamorgan), and I wasn't allowed to work on the pitch. I wasn't allowed to cover it or anything," Lewin said.The filming took place for one day at Grace Road, four days before the match. The disciplinary panel considered it but rejected it as a mitigating factor.The pitch produced uneven bounce during the match, with the panel noting that the problem was "created by moving cracks". Match referee Ian Ramage recorded 43 instances of uneven bounce in his match log.The panel concluded that Leicestershire had not deliberately prepared a poor pitch but found that their approach to preparing the surface was "unreasonable".Leicestershire said they were reviewing the decision."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."Having received the Panel's decision, the Club is reviewing its position and considering all available options," the club said in a statement.Leicestershire have 89 points from 12 matches and need to beat Hampshire in their ongoing Division One match to stay in the top tier of the County Championship.- EndsPublished By: Saurabh KumarPublished On: Sep 17, 2026 15:29 IST