Sourav Ganguly’s upcoming biopic has found itself in the news as it was blamed for English county Leicestershire being handed a 27-point penalty by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) (as well as a £5,000 fine), which has put them on the cusp of relegation from the County Championship’s first division in the ongoing 2025-26 season.
For those unversed, Leicestershire have been punished by the ECB for preparing a ‘poor’ pitch in their fixture against Glamorgan in August. While they won the fixture at Grace Road by 42 runs, they have been stripped of all 19 points earned from the match and also handed a further eight-point penalty.
The Sourav Ganguly Biopic Factor
Leicestershire’s head groundsman Callum Lewin told the cricket regulator during the hearing process that the pitch was not what he wanted to prepare. However, he defended himself by claiming an unscheduled Bollywood film shoot took place just four days before the match.
“It’s a used pitch this time around. We had two T20s on it ten weeks ago. There was a lot of circumstances leading up to the game that were just out of my control, such as the weather was 35 degrees and we had an unscheduled Bollywood filming event four days before, and I wasn’t allowed to work on the pitch. I wasn’t allowed to cover it or anything,” said Lewin.
The movie in question is widely believed to be Ganguly’s biopic in which Rajkumar Rao is playing the role of the ex-Indian captain while directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. The movie named ‘Dada’ is scheduled to be released on May 14, 2027.
Leicestershire Slip To 10th Place
The penalty means Leicestershire now have only 92 points and have slipped to the wooden spoon (10th place) behind Hampshire (92 points). Interestingly, the 9th and 10th place teams are playing each other currently. For those unversed, the bottom two teams are relegated each season. 8th-place Essex are currently on 127 points.
