“Accordingly, while not without sympathy for Gautam Gambhir, I cannot find that the penalty imposed on him is so disproportionately severe that I should intervene. He concedes that what he did was unacceptable,” he added.

But the BCCI shot off a letter saying the decision was contrary to the spirit of justice as the player should have been heard. In the letter sent to ICC chief David Morgan, the board has said the order “seems to be pre-decided as the same has been passed without affording the player an opportunity of a personal hearing.”

But the ICC, while accepting that they received the letter, said that the decision was final. “Although we have received an objection letter from the BCCI, there is nothing more that we can do as the appeal commissioner’s decision is a final and binding decision,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said.

Meanwhile a national selector, on the condition of anonymity, defended the choice of M Vijay as replacement, saying the batsman was in form. “He scored in the Challengers and is coming off a double hundred for Chennai against Maharashtra,” he said. Vijay is currently playing the Ranji game in Maharashtra, which gets over only on Thursday. Tamil Nadu will not be affected greatly as it’s unlikely they’ll have to bat a second time after posting 648 for three declared in the first innings.