Today the cricket match in
Sydney ended – with lot more drama than cricket.
For the record, Australia won the test match in the second last over… and that’s what the world will remember few years down the line. More than that, it would be remembered for the 16 consecutive wins of the Australian team.
And just as the breaking news flashing on screens… now Harbhajan Singh has been handed a 3 match ban for a supposedly racist slur made against Andrew Symonds.
But the ugly underbelly of this match…doesn’t end here.
The three umpires (3rd umpire included) gave a terrible 12 decisions against Indian team…forcing a defeat on India. India was playing against 14 players, it seemed. Both Steve Bucknor and Benson seemed like they were playing for Cricket Australia.
As my wife has been sniffing, Ricky Ponting had a huge prestigious record up for stake – 16 consecutive wins like the one Steve Waugh had earlier. So did he go all-out to ensure the win…? After all, if match fixing can be done by bribing a bunch of players, it’s far easier to fix it by getting just 3 umpires towards you.
Andrew Symonds given not-out thrice and he went on to make a huge score (162). Rickey Ponting given not-out caught behind and he scored double from there on. Steve Bucknor even refusing to refer decisions to third umpire. But what the hell, even the third umpire too acted blind to give wrong decisions in favour of Aussies… Dravid given out today when there was a gap as big as Steve Bucknor’s head between the bat and ball. Ganguly given out by Ricky Ponting – not the umpires. Wasim Jaffer given out on a no-ball. And many more… Heck… India wasn’t playing to win… India had to play to survive a ruckus of cheating and fraud today.
Even if half of these decisions had been given honestly – India was bound to win this match.
But the day ended with even more bizarre news… Harbhajan Singh accused of a racial slur by Aussie all-rounder Symonds. As per known statements of the match refree and the umpires, they didn’t hear or see any thing. The on-screen visuals show that it was Andrew Symonds who walked up to the batsman and said something… Umpires heard no racial comment coming from Singh…the mikes recorded nothing. But since a bunch of white-skinned players are ready to stand witness for their team mate – who were no where close to the either of them when the supposed altercation happened on the pitch; the verdict has been given against Bhajji. The witnesses from India (Sachin – who was on the pitch) be damned. On another occasion, the umpires took the opinion of Ricky Ponting for a decision – against Saurav. That too when Ricky had just earlier appealed blatantly for a fake catch, and for Micheal Clark – who refused to walk yesterday for a very clear dismissal. Ricky himself proved that his integrity can not be trusted – given that he didn’t walk when he was caught in the previous innings.
So what’s the picture we get…
If a white player gives witness for something they were no close to – it must be true. No matter if a non-white player was present there on the pitch and says nothing happened. If a white man says he said it, he must have….
If a white player says that the catch was clean – he can’t be lying… No matter what the TV camera’s show. If Ricky picked a catch from turf or Clark picked a bump ball, as long as they say it was clean – they must be correct. The truth be damned…
To me – that is racism…!!!
ICC must be banned for owning such a racist game…
The Beijing Olympics is over... and we (all TV Channels) are over the moon with 3 medals... Doesn't matter a single Phelps or 
Usain Bolt won more than most nations... And I don't quite relate to the over excitement with the 3 medals or even with the post-mortem we always do - on why a country of a billion cant win more... As Vijay mentioned in his blog - a medals tally with GDP factored in is needed, and we may find interesting alterations like Kenya or Jamaica leading the tally.
