Shades of Gray

Whatever happened in the last test between India and Australia at Sydney has highlighted that cricket is no longer a gentleman’s game. Kumble’s comments at the end that only one side was playing the game in the right spirit aptly summed up the behaviour of the Australian side led by Ricky Ponting. It has also highlighted that the Aussie behaviour has gone from arrogance to inacceptable.

Ponting is a man unable to understand the thin line between playing mercilessly and winning at any cost. In my analysis of the issue, I look at several factors that sum up why Indians were justified in feeling sore after the loss and demanding the removal of Steve Bucknor and why reigning in Aussies is a right thing to do. I also analyze as to why the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) needs to play a more active role in ICC.

The Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson
There were nine wrong decisions in the game and both umpires were guilty. And eight of these wrong decisions went against India. Now statistics will tell you that this is a significant proof that one side benefitted from the umpiring decisions. No prizes for guessing how Australia equalled the world record of 16 straight test wins. And one must not forget that even the third umpire gave a wrong decision. When this happens despite the technology, it makes one feel that India were playing not against an Australian side of eleven but against fourteen men. Isn’t it obvious when you see umpire Benson asking Ponting whether Ganguly was out or not?

Bucknor’s history against India. Go through the list below to find out how he has been giving wrong decisions against India on a regular basis:

The second Test could have very well gone in India’s favour but for the poor umpiring. Symonds, centurion in the first innings, got at least three lives, one inferred by the TV umpire. He himself admitted of being out at the score of 30. Skipper Ponting got two lives. Similarly, in the second innings Michael Hussey got thick edge of RP Singh before Dhoni caught it but Mr. Bucknor thought otherwise. Umpiring was equally horrendous during India’s batting. Wasim Jaffer was given out in the first innings off a no ball. In the second innings, Steve ‘Slow Death’ Bucknor lifted his index finger even when the ball caught behind was deflected of Rahul Dravid’s pad. Mark Benson, decided not to lag behind and asked Ganguly to leave as Michael Clarke caught him off Lee’s delivery in slips. The TV replays showed Clarke didn’t collect the ball neatly. Even if one ignored this, nobody could overlook Clarke’s followthrough. He didn’t complete the catch as the ball touched the ground when Clarke fell and rolled.

It seemed Team India is up against two teams, Australia and the Umpires. Had umpiring been upto the mark, the Border-Gavaskar series might have been levelled in Sydney. Bucknor’s erroneous outing in India’s last tour Down Under in 2003-04, fetched him zero from Sourav Ganguly in captain’s report. It seems Bucknor is determined to sustain his score and his decisions have not only influenced the match but his fellow umpires.

Catch the clip on Youtube: Bad Umpiring leads to Aussie Victory

Aussie Sportsmanship
Ponting has completely lost it when he keeps repeating ad nauseum that he sees no problem with his team’s behaviour. The team and ACB keeps repeating that their team plays hard and fair. But there is no fair angle to their style of play. It was so obvious to all that Michael Clarke had edged the ball to slips, yet he waited for the umpires decision. He should have walked. Adam Gilchrist appealled for the catch behind off Dravid when he would have known that Dravid did not hit the ball. It is a form of cheating and is disgraceful. Australia is now trying to say, ‘We uphold the spirit of the game’, but it is a very unusual spirit of the game. If you are upholding this spirit you cannot appeal for something when you know a batsman is not out. You cannot stand there when you have hit the cover off the ball. Ponting points to the incident in the first innings where he declined a catch as he had not taken it cleanly. But integrity is not a one-time gesture.

In Sydney Morning Herald, one of the most respected cricket writers in the world, Peter Roebuck wrote – “Ricky Ponting must be sacked as captain of the Australian cricket team. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the past few days. Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years. In the past few days Ponting has presided over a performance that dragged the game into the pits. He turned a group of professional cricketers into a pack of wild dogs. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not packed their bags and gone home. There is no justice for them in this country, nor any manners.”

There isn’t any need for any more proof.

The Race Row
Harbhajan Singh was banned by match refree Mike Proctor for making a racist remark to Symonds. It is said that Harbhajan called him a monkey. There was no audio or video evidence. Sachin Tendulkar was close to Harbhajan and he denied any racist remark ever being made. Tendulkar has earned respect for his sportsmanship yet Proctor chose to ignore him and trusted the australians. Australian sympathizers are saying that since Harbhajan has apologized to Symonds during the India tour, he should be considered a repeat offender. But the fact is that there is no evidence against him this time.

Indians themselves are of various shades of brown. It is purely silly of australians to think that Indians are racially abusing Symonds because of his skin color. India is a country that let go off an opportunity to win the Davis Cup because South Africa’s policy of apartheid.

Australian Hypocrisy
Australians play their cricket not only with their bat and ball but also by their mouth as the whole world knows that they are the greatest sledgers. Cricket fans will recall how the australian greats sledged West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan when he stood his ground against their pace bowling. Everybody knows that the aussies abuse their opponents on a regular basis and call it mental disintegration. Isn’t it strange that now they have a trouble with sledging when India has stood up to them and paid back in the same coin?

Wasim Akram rightly described them as ‘cry-babies’ for whingeing about racism when they had been cricket’s worst sledgers. While Peter Roebuck criticised the aussie behaviour, he himself tried to strike a reconciliatory note with the national team a day later. This time Roebuck said that the behaviour of the Indian team was far from ideal and is a factor too behind the recent controversy. This is another case of aussie hypocrisy as anybody who has followed the match would vouch for normal behaviour from the Indian camp. Roebuck himself failed to enlarge on any perceived criticism of the Indian players’ behaviour.

Racist World stands up for Hogg
As per Naseer Hussain, putting Brad Hogg on dock on charges of hurling abusive language (using the word bastards) on Anil Kumble and Co. during the controversy-ridden Sydney Test was kowtowing to the financial clout of BCCI.

On Harbhajan’s alleged offence, Hussain says – “India may claim that the use of the word monkey was not meant to be offensive but, I’m sorry, for Harbhajan to use it, if he did, to the only player of mixed race in the Australian side just a few months after Symonds received racial abuse from some Indian fans on tour there means he is on very thin ice”. However, he defends Hogg by saying – “If any Australian cricketer who used words like that had faced a charge over the years, they wouldn’t have got a team out on the park”. My questions to Mr. Hussain:

1. How can ‘monkey’ be an objectionable word, leave alone racist if ‘bastard’ is fine in the world of sport? If Australians object to ‘monkey’, Indians are right in taking offence as the word ‘bastard’ is seen as something very offensive in Indian culture.
2. Does he mean that Australians should be allowed to abuse others because they have been doing it for years?

Bias of Cricketing World against India
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), former England captain Naseer Hussain and West Indian great Clive Lloyd have described Bucknor’s removal as bowing to the whims of the richest cricket board, the BCCI. According to them, this sets a dangerous precedent as any team can now demand an umpire’s ouster. But they forget that at 61, Bucknor perhaps is no longer competent to umpire and must go. If he is costing team matches by his poor umpiring and judgment, it is better for cricket to have someone else in the elite panel of umpires. Britain’s spineless media commented – “Bucknor deserved better than to be ruthlessly tossed aside by the ICC at the whim of India’s powerbrokers.ICC has dumped a black umpire to appease a team accused of harbouring a ‘racist’. A shudder must have run through every white coat, every match official in every sport, as Bucknor became the scapegoat.” Steve Bucknor: A scapegoat? Britishers sure have some sense of humour.

India is one country that has always help sportsmanship above winning or losing. The BCCI is the richest cricket body in the world and this is often held against India whenever our cricketers are shortchanged. While everybody is agreeing that India lost because of umpiring decisions, they argue against Bucknor’s removal as this showcases BCCI’s muscle. Even as Harbhajan is banned without evidence, learned men say revoking the ban would mean selling off to BCCI’s financial clout. If we know that justice has not been done, is correcting that mistake unfair?

Conclusion
Steve Waugh was admired for his mind games and toughness but Ponting’s behaviour has shamed the world of cricket. Michael Clarke stood his ground when even a blind person would have given him out. May be Australia are backing the wrong person to be their next captain. The aussie arrogance is evident in some sections of the media hailing Ponting as a hero who has exposed racism in cricket. But they suffer from selective amnesia. How can australians fight against racism when their white society is one of the main perpetrators of racism. Any asian who has lived in Australia would know how the whites treat others.

India would be justified in cancelling the tour if Harbhajan’s verdict is not overturned. Pride comes before sport and Indian team should pride itself for standing up to a “win-at-all-costs” Australian side who won’t shy away from cheating to make a few records.