Last week was a chaotic one in cricket world. India lost a test match, thanks to some horrendous umpiring, Australia equaled the most number of test victories with that of Steve Waugh’s record, Harbhajan had been labeled as racist and handed a three test ban, Team India refused to lead the series further demanding the axing of Steve Bucknor from standing in the following test and reevaluation of Harbhajan’s case. Back in India, media made most of the incident, piled profits on the repercussions of average man. They held some talk shows, they collected the opinions of former cricketers, they covered the anger of common Indian, and some even took an interview of Harbhajan’s mother on the umpiring frailties and racism abuses. People rallied on street holding the banners and screaming slogans against Team Australia, Umpires and match referee (Some placards read satyameva jayathe, what is that to do with cricket) and burning their effigies. As Suresh Menon wrote in his article for cricinfo “The President-elect of the ICC, Sharad Pawar, is upset. This is not something trivial like farmers committing suicide, which he can ignore in his other avatar as the Minister of Agriculture. This is the real thing. The BCCI runs the ICC and the media run the BCCI.” Eventually ICC had to come down and removed Steve Bucknor from the upcoming test match and scheduled a rehearing of Harbhajan’s case. And as a result of this, Team India agreed to continue the tour and the people back home cooled off measurably. But looking back at the things, can we call it fair game? Is sportsman spirit prevailing in Indian side?
Everybody knows BCCI runs ICC. BCCI plays major role in modifying (manipulating) or introducing the rules. BCCI made ICC to step down Bucknor from the third test. But the question is, won’t he be standing in the any of the matches that involves team India? If he does, what happens to the trust that exists among teams and umpires, will it be there? If he does, then lot of scrutiny would fall on the shoulders of Bucknor. What if he doesn’t participate, the elite panel, which consists of just eight umpires, would grow slimmer.
But my concern is, how can we justify the removal of Bucknor from upcoming test? It never happened before in the history of cricket. Umpire selection shouldn’t be based on team’s choice. A team shouldn’t select the umpire. This will not be considered as fair game. Indian players, who criticized the OZs for their ill-spirit, have themselves slipped down into the same pit of shame and blame. This whole incident reminds me of my childhood incident.
Everybody knows BCCI runs ICC. BCCI plays major role in modifying (manipulating) or introducing the rules. BCCI made ICC to step down Bucknor from the third test. But the question is, won’t he be standing in the any of the matches that involves team India? If he does, what happens to the trust that exists among teams and umpires, will it be there? If he does, then lot of scrutiny would fall on the shoulders of Bucknor. What if he doesn’t participate, the elite panel, which consists of just eight umpires, would grow slimmer.
But my concern is, how can we justify the removal of Bucknor from upcoming test? It never happened before in the history of cricket. Umpire selection shouldn’t be based on team’s choice. A team shouldn’t select the umpire. This will not be considered as fair game. Indian players, who criticized the OZs for their ill-spirit, have themselves slipped down into the same pit of shame and blame. This whole incident reminds me of my childhood incident.
When I was in high school, I used to play cricket with my brother. My brother was a way better cricketer than me and I would always end up on the loosing side. Every time I loose a match, I would demand him to bat left handed (he is a right hander), just to secure a pity win. As expected, I did win most of the times, and had been called a cry baby. Whenever I recall, at first I get embarrass and then laugh out loud. I laugh at my unsportive, mean manipulations to taste the victory chug, pity!!
Whiny winner, its not just me!!
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