Rationale thinking - Players in the Balance

What started out as a fantastic series is fast disappearing into one of 'the' most noted series (for a lot of unforgettable moments) in the history of the sport of Cricket.

Everyone has been highly opinionated - either taking sides on Harbhajan, or with Symonds, Ponting & Hogg. We hear Navjot Sidhu telling "It is not about Cricket; it is about National Honor" - well, we all know how he can voice his opinions, even when he doesn't know anything concrete about it. On the other side, we hear the CAB backing their side, and we know that both the CAB and its players have, for years long, voicing their opinions on the field, sledging the opponents (and the umpires), making intimidation a part of their reportoire.

Now, where is the balance?

Everyone is highly caught up with 'defending' their country and player(s), and while they are doing it, it appears that they have lost rationale thinking. Blindly supporting either side is not going to give us a solution.

So, why was Bucknor was taken out of the Perth test? Has no other umpire made wrong decisions in any other test or one day international in the history of cricket? Has no other team lost or won a test match because of wrong decision taken in the heat of the moment by an umpire? What are we accomplishing by this?

We all talk about the stress on the bowler and the batsman, and the runs that the fielders give away. But, the most difficult job on the cricket field is held by the Umpire on the 22-yard turf. He has to:

1. Count the number of deliveries bowled in an over
2. Count the extras, and the runs scored by a batsman
3. Give No-Balls, Wides, and other extra runs that would make the bowlers frown
4. Check for any variations caused by the players to the turf
and, most importantly,
5. Give appeals for LBW, for the bat-pad catches, for the catches taken by the fielders which appear to have been grounded - ALL IN A MATTER OF SECONDS.

How many of us would be able to do that job precisely, whether we have done it for one year or 20 years? Everybody has a bad day. Everybody makes a wrong decision. Everybody plays an important part in winning / losing the game.

If we go against the umpires who have given wrong decisions all these years, we wouldn't have any umpires, leave alone an ICC Elite Panel of umpires.

Everybody would remember the India-Australia match at Sharjah on April 24,1998, where Sachin scored 134. We had 27 runs to win with 5 overs to spare. You might argue that it is not as close as it gets, but it still was a close game. Sachin was given LBW to a ball which was pitching on the 6th or 7th stump, by umpire Javed Akhtar. But the Indians did not argue that day, because they won the match. What would have happened if the Indians lost the match? Would we have argued against Javed Akhtar, alleging that he was a Pakistani and because of that gave decisions against the Indians? Would we have stopped playing against Pakistan? Or, would we have made allegations of Match-fixing like Ali Bacher of the South African Cricket Board did?

There have been lot of instances similar to the recent one in Australia. The only exception to this has been the on-field credibility displayed by the players. We don't know whether Harbhajan called Symonds by any name, or whether Symonds instigated Harbhajan.

However, we could see one thing from the video telecast of the test match - Ponting did not take the catch. Ponting is one of the greatest players in the Cricket history, undoubtedly. But his on-field and off-field compatibility with the opponents is miserable. It appears that there is no 'team spirit' in him; everything he wants is - to win more matches, to get Australia more victories. And he is willing to take chances, come what may. And, that is the attitude that is questionable. And, nobody, not the players, not the CAB can do anything about it. Only Ponting has to realise that its high time he changes his perspective on things, and becomes a better individual.

The Indian board could not have asked for a better chance to show its patriotism. The players could not have asked for a bigger distraction from their own pathetic display in the second innings at Sydney. Two batsmen got poor decisions. What about the others? Is batting through two sessions to save a Test? And, we call ourselves the greatest batting line-up in the world? It is all so convenient.

It is time that players of both teams become men and take things into their hands and move on and play better cricket rather than slashing each other through the media and their boards.

If this is the state of cricket for years to come, we would be the examples of what Churchill said - "11 fools are playing; 11,000 fools are watching". Only in this case, the well paid 11 fools are backed by 11 billion fools.

Portrait

Portrait of my parents drawn by an excellent Screever near Rockefeller Center on
January 6, 2008. He drew it in around 25-30 minutes....