Monday, January 07, 2008

Get on with it, willya?

The Indian Crybaby Circus is on show once again in Sydney. Come on guys, can you get your bottoms moved to Canberra please? Leave the postmortem to us, you bloody have a tour on hand.

Was Umpiring bad in this test?

It was abysmal. It cost us the match. But a couple of goof ups went against Australia as well. Draw was the just result. Lets assume that was the case and move on.

Was Gilchrist right in appealing for that Dravid catch?

He was. From the replays it was clear he wasn't sure what was happening. His first instinct after gathering the ball was to stump. There was an appeal and he joined in. His habit of walking cannot be held against him. If that were the case, should Umpire's take a break when Gilly is on the field?

Was Ganguly out caught by Clarke?

Yes he was. The fielder took the catch. He claimed it and so did his teammates. Now its upto the umpire to decide. He could have given out immediately at his discretion, asked the square leg umpire, referred it to the third umpire. Should he be asking the players is another question. But the Australians are hardly to be blamed for that.

Was Ponting right in giving Ganguly out?

He was. Apparently at the start of the series, Kumble and Ponting had agreed that captains will take the call in such situations. So he did. The Umpire could have ignored it, if he wanted to. But giving Ganguly not out would have been unjust to the Aussies in my opinion. Why should they pay for the Umpire's earlier blunders in the test.

Does Harbhajan deserve the punishment?

Yes, absolutely. There is a tamil proverb which goes "habitual thief will get caught one day". It is common knowledge that Harbhajan is a scoundrel. He having to feed nine mouths in his family is no excuse for his routine misdemeanors. Eight years on tour is a long time to learn some manners, however uneducated he is.

Was Ponting justified in referring the issue to Procter?

He was. But most captains would not have done that. Anything said on the field can be made into an issue. Crybabies do it, so do scheming captains. Any doubt Ponting would use every opportunity to harm his opponents?

What exactly is the problem these days?

Australia has a bunch of thugs like Symonds, Hayden, Ponting and Clarke. They bully anyone they can. Nut cases like Harbhajan and Sreesanth crack under their gaze. The media, especially Indian where journalist's average IQ hovers in the low 40s, is having a ball. Rest of the teams on either side, match officials and the public are having to put up with these idiots.

Where do we go from here?

Canberra ofcourse! But matches involving India, Australia and England have become an embarrassment to world cricket. Yes, their rivalries make Test Cricket exciting. But their habitual media sling matches, indecent on-field behavior, vengeance and wild celebrations are getting out of hand. One of the ways to rein them in will be, to award exemplary punishments to their players whenever such opportunities arise. Yuvraj deserved atleast a fine in Melbourne.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does Harbhajan deserve punishment ?

No, he does not. Is that because using the word "monkey" is alright. No, it is because there is no conclusive evidence.

I don;t care if bhajji is punished if he used the word but I do care if what Symonds said to him is conveniently left out.

Are Indians blaming Aussies because the umpires screwed them over.

No, they aren't. Kumble made the call that Aussies did not play within the spirit of the game because they did not. Ponting has proved with that catch that he is as untrustworthy as they come. Not because he appealed, that is heat of the moment, but because he did not back out despite the evidence. Why is this serious. The same Procter handed Rashid Latif a 3 match ban for calling a catch he grounded. Surprise Surprise, the same Procter is now silent. I want to write more on Oz sportsmanship this game but work calls.

Anonymous said...

This is how trustworthy Ponting is: link


He makes a pact with Anil. Whats wrong with Anil ?

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

Its true there is no conclusive evidence. But there was circumstantial evidence. Even it was not for the racism charge, he could have been punished for bringing the game under disrepute.

But except for legalize, its fair to assume that Bajji called Symonds Monkey. It looked pretty ugly when he summoned Symonds, walked a long way chatting with him and apologized later on.

Ponting could have refrained from referring it. But as your picture link shows, we cannot expect anything better from Ponting. Thanks for the pic btw. I had posted the same in my Tamil blog a little while ago!

As for Kumble's pact, its true it lies in tatters now. But there was nothing wrong in trying that out. When the slobs running the game don't pro-actively address the 'claims' issue, captains are forced to take some initiatives themselves.

Anonymous said...

> But except for legalize, its fair to >assume that Bajji called Symonds Monkey. >It looked pretty ugly when he summoned >Symonds, walked a long way chatting with >him and apologized later on.

You crack me up. I didn;t know you were on the field listening :-) :-). My interpretation, Symmo provocated Harbhajan and he summoned him. Symmo throws up and Harbhajan asks him to move on which is read as an apology.

Ok, that is not the point. Point is, nobody knows what happened. All I want is for Procter to tell us exactly how he arrived at the conclusion that Harbhajan was racist and that is what is missing.
If you read Symmo's statement he says :

"I'm a firm believer in sticking up for your team-mate so I stepped in and had a bit of a crack at Harbhajan, telling him exactly what I thought of his antics. He then had a shot back, which brings us to the situation we're facing.

Could he be kind enough and tell us what he said here. Why is this left out ? Dont we have a right to know, no ? To me know, legally and that is what matters, Harbhajan cannot be branded a racist and I am freakin' demanding why ?

My personal opinion, Oz have passed racist comments all the time and it does not bother them. No, I am not convinced bhajji said it. Mcgrath called Mahanama a black **** as said in Mahanama's autobiography. Harbhajan was just too hot to handle on-field.

India should boycott this series if a fair trial to bhajji is not given. I am not saying dont screw him if he said it but prove it. Full story here please.

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

Its true Aussies are known to have said lots of bad stuff. But in this case, its Bhajji who is on trial. As I have argued in the post, punish as many people as possible to make the teams behave. Kumble is free to refer aussies, which he has with Hogg.

Bad behavior especially when it has been reported, should not go unpunished.

Anonymous said...

A very fair point. It is bhajji who is on trial. That means, what Symonds said does not affect the case ? I dont buy that. Making a racist comment just like that is one thing and making a racist comment after being provocated is another thing wouldn't you say ? - circumstances !!! Do I read you right ? This has been my point all through. Tell us exactly what happened and then hand out punishment. Seriously, I have a right to know. I want bhajji to be kicked out of the Indian team if he thinks racism is ok, atleast for this I should know. Ok, got desperate here.

Also, as an interesting side, does the referee have to wait for a player to be charged before punishing him although he has the evidence ? The precedents, with instances of Procter himself involved, seem to say no.

Vijay said...

:)...reasonable

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

hmm...I don't know whether the referee has any obligation to make a public statement citing evidence. I'm sure Indians would have said, "Symonds provoked him". To which I presume, aussies would have said, "Bhajji hit Lee first".

When this incident happened on the second day, the relations weren't that bitter. Ponting appears to have reported the monkey calling immediately to the Umpires and his team manager as he was supposed to do.

However bad they have behaved after that, it must be an extra-ordinary concoction if Ponting made up the Monkey story and reported within minutes of the televised altercation. Not impossible, but perhaps improbable.

Also I don't think the referee can act suo-moto on a field incident unless the player is reported by the umpires.

Anonymous said...

Without trying to dog-fight, all I can say is if the match referee's credibility over the judgement is questioned then not revealing the entire facts and saying that he is entitled to punish harbhajan is rather high-handed and unfair. Why is the need to hide ? Even the Indians who were present there dont know how such a "logical" conclusion was made barring no audio/video evidence. I read the article on this in cricketnext but cannot find the link now, damn !!! :-).

>> However bad they have behaved after >> that, it must be an extra-ordinary
>> concoction if Ponting made up the
>> Monkey story and reported within
>> minutes of the televised altercation. >> Not impossible, but perhaps
>> improbable.

Tell me , is this enough to frame harbhajan ? Jeez !! :-):-). There is a story going on that bhajii swore "teri maa ki" and Oz heard that as monkey. Sorry for the foul language. I cracked up for that but found it would be a good argument to back this case :-) :-). Another one was that bhajji was calming himself with "manki shanthi de". All hilarious but wonderful instances of why Procter is so wrong.

Latest news on this one :

BTW, if you follow panicker's blog there is inside info that the whole team is with bhajji on this one as they feel it was their word against the aussies and their credibility is being questioned.
The team refused to leave Sydney on their own not on BCCI's insistence and Tendulkar is personally taking this up with Pawar.

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

this sachin angle is quite interesting actually. on tv, i saw him giving out a nervous laughter when bhajji was talking to symonds. but apparently sachin was not near during the initial parts of the altercation.

sachin's position is perhaps catch 22. he didn't hear bhajji say "monkey". that much we can accept. but how he vouches for the rest of the conversation is not clear. considering that he had let the team down as usual in a test match, he might think he should stand up for bhajji. bcos atleast to his knowledge, bhajji is innocent.

FlyingHigh said...

oh please, cricket hasn't been this fun in ages. Sit back and enjoy the drama(if you cant sympathize). They should come back and never play australia. No one should play australia. Losers they are.

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

:) but how can the drama continue if they come back? Indian Crybabies will do well with some ooh-lalas from the Australian crowds.

Anonymous said...

He did say "teri maa ki" after all. ha ha ha.

GuNs said...

Interesting to note Symmonds has been involved in "ALL" controversies between India and Aus in the recent few series. Interesting to also note that he has neither been banned nor even fined a penny.

Hmm...

-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs