BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has stated that the cricket-governing body will not penalise Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for his controversial behaviour during a match between India A and Sri Lanka A on Monday, June 15, in Dambulla.

The incident took place after India A failed to chase down an 18-run target in the Super Over. As Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Suryansh Shedge, the two players who batted in the Super Over, were making their way back to the hut, there were words exchanged between them and the Sri Lanka A players. Sooryavanshi lost his temper and shoved Sri Lankan player Vishen Halambage. Later, it was reported that Halambage had been sledging the 15-year-old not just in this game but also in the previous one, where India A met Sri Lanka A on June 9.

The match referee for the game, which was decided in the Super Over, was Pradeep Jeyaprakashdaran. He imposed a fine on Halambage and also sanctioned Niroshan Dickwella, who was trying to restore peace.

Saikia, representing the BCCI, cleared the air once and for all, stating that the board has no role to play in the matter, as the match referee is the one who has the authority to decide penalties for on-field incidents

"A lot of things are being discussed on social media, including speculation that the BCCI is contemplating action. But do you want the BCCI to step into the domain of the match referee? The BCCI is not the authority in such matters. We should not intrude into an area where the match referee and the umpires are the primary officials empowered to take decisions regarding incidents that occur on the field of play," Saikia was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

"The BCCI does not have the authority to take any action or interfere with the conduct of a game. Whatever happened was part of the game and, under BCCI rules and ICC regulations, the board has no role to play in such matters. The responsibility lies with the match referee. If anything goes wrong, the match referee will take a call, and the umpires will take a call. There is already a system in place," he added.

BCCI had suspended Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul after they said controversial things on a popular show called 'Koffee with Karan'. However, that was an off-field incident, and BCCI had stepped in. However, the board will not take action this time as the incident involving Sooryavanshi and the Sri Lanka A players happened on the field of play.

"A lot of speculation is being made, but these are baseless speculations. I assure you that the BCCI will not intrude into the domain of the match referee, who is the competent authority. If there is anything wrong on the field relating to a player or any cricketing activity, the appropriate officials will deal with it," Saikia stated.

"Otherwise, it would set a wrong precedent. It would amount to interference in the domain of the match referee, which the BCCI is not going to do. This is not our job, and it is not provided for in our rule book," he added.