ICC judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis finds James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja not guilty

Ravindra Jadeja (L) and James Anderson

Following a six-hour trial that was held via a video conference on Friday, the International Cricket Council’s judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis has found both James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja not guilty of the charges, level 3 and level 1 respectively, laid against them.

The Indian management filed a complaint against Anderson for allegedly “pushing and abusing” Jadeja during the first of the 5-match Test series, in response to which England registered a counter-charge claiming that Jadeja was the one who provoked the incident.

Verdict out earlier than expected

Players from both the teams were called to testify. The verdict, it was said, will take 48 hours time, and hence it took everyone by surprise when Lewis declared it only minutes after the hearing got over. Nic De Marco and Adam Lewis appeared on behalf of Anderson and Jadeja respectively, while the two team managers, the ECB’s Paul Downton, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Sundar Raman and M.V Sridhar, the ICC’s General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice, and the ICC’s Ethics and Regulatory lawyer, Sally Clark, were also present.

Wisden India quoted an ICC source as saying, “Witnesses, including some Indian and English players, provided evidence and were cross-examined by the respective legal counsels."

England breathe a sigh of relief

The home team will be relieved to know that Anderson, the Man-of-the-Match in 2 of the 3 Tests, has been cleared to play, as, had the 32-year-old been found guilty, he would have missed out on the next two Tests. With 16 wickets so far at an average of exactly 24, the Lancastrian leads the list of highest wicket-takers in the series.

England top order batsman Ian Bell told BBCSport that the verdict is a "Huge boost, massive, Anderson's at the top of his game"

The 50% match fee fine imposed on Jadeja, which the Indian captain MS Dhoni was furious with feeling it as unjust, has also been revoked upon re-appeal, thereby overturning match referee David Boon’s decision.