With all the buzz about Harbhajan being a racist, Ponting being unsportsmanlike, the umpire's being incompetent, I'm left wondering whatever happened over the last two weeks... This is how I see it.
Harbhajan's comments - whether he's guilty or not (I saw two reports, one claiming that he is guilty, and the other that he's not!) - it's best if everyone just accepts ICC's judgment and continues with what each is supposed to be doing. It'll leave cricket less tarnished, ICC with some authority, BCCI with some shame. The only loss would be Harbhajan for three matches, which isn't much anyway! Three matches isn't a long time, especially considering that we already know the results of the next two matches, and more importantly, Harbhajan is no more the Turbanator he was in 1998.
Ponting's antics. How's that new? He's always been the fast-scoring batsman, the I'm-everywhere fielder who quite often pushes his luck on the field. He's always been the cunning mind under the baggy green. Why then this upsurge this time around?
Coming to the umpires. When have the umpires been right throughout a match? I believe umpires are biased coins with a probability of correct decision roughly 0.8, but that doesn't make a sequence of 10 roughly consecutive wrong decisions impossible. Improbable, yes. But, definitely not impossible, especially given the number of matches being played these days. Why all the hue and cry about Bucknor and Benson then?
The more I think about it, the more I feel that it is the continuing dominance of the Australian Cricket team that has made the difference this time. An Aussie victory, and an Aussie whitewash have become so common, that people have started to question other irrelevant trivialities of their games. It makes sense of the Aussie media, the Australians in general, to question these nuances in view of improving their game. But, when Indians do so, it's just a blame game. Much has been said about 'playing the game in the spirit of the game'. But, how many times have you seen an Indian walk when he's been judged not-out, and he's known he was out? Ironically, the only person I've seen doing that has been Adam Gilchrist!
This is just cricket being cricket...
Harbhajan's comments - whether he's guilty or not (I saw two reports, one claiming that he is guilty, and the other that he's not!) - it's best if everyone just accepts ICC's judgment and continues with what each is supposed to be doing. It'll leave cricket less tarnished, ICC with some authority, BCCI with some shame. The only loss would be Harbhajan for three matches, which isn't much anyway! Three matches isn't a long time, especially considering that we already know the results of the next two matches, and more importantly, Harbhajan is no more the Turbanator he was in 1998.
Ponting's antics. How's that new? He's always been the fast-scoring batsman, the I'm-everywhere fielder who quite often pushes his luck on the field. He's always been the cunning mind under the baggy green. Why then this upsurge this time around?
Coming to the umpires. When have the umpires been right throughout a match? I believe umpires are biased coins with a probability of correct decision roughly 0.8, but that doesn't make a sequence of 10 roughly consecutive wrong decisions impossible. Improbable, yes. But, definitely not impossible, especially given the number of matches being played these days. Why all the hue and cry about Bucknor and Benson then?
The more I think about it, the more I feel that it is the continuing dominance of the Australian Cricket team that has made the difference this time. An Aussie victory, and an Aussie whitewash have become so common, that people have started to question other irrelevant trivialities of their games. It makes sense of the Aussie media, the Australians in general, to question these nuances in view of improving their game. But, when Indians do so, it's just a blame game. Much has been said about 'playing the game in the spirit of the game'. But, how many times have you seen an Indian walk when he's been judged not-out, and he's known he was out? Ironically, the only person I've seen doing that has been Adam Gilchrist!
This is just cricket being cricket...
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