Hi Prem Thank God you thought it fit to write about Steve Bucknor's shocker of a behaviour. Bucknor pointing finger at Parthiv Patel in front of millions and Mimicking Rahul Dravid for the jelly incident were totally uncalled for and deserve punishment. But then who cares when the team at receiving end is India , its not Australia against whom Bucknor did his antics. I was absolutely dismayed to see that media in India , both TV & press , was hardly reporting or commenting on him , when it was plain obvious for anyone who watched the matches on TV that his behaviour was undignified and uncalled for. I agree with you that when people who commit such transgressions are not made to pay , these incidents tend to feed on themselves.
Sourav was again singled out for punishment for slow-over rate while Aussies went scot free. But then history has taught us that rules diifer for different countries , isn't it.
Cricket cannot be a gentleman's game when the people who officiate it aren't one themselves.
Instead of Bucknor issue what has to be put under scrutiny is our boys performance Our boys are just not able to win a match properly Our batting lineup which had been gathering much praise lately was literally plundered by Aussie bowlers in yesterdays match. After the break Sachin and Sehwag were expected to deliver well but much to our dismay they gave catching practice to the Aussies. Couldnt Sehwag see that the fielding and bowling was set on purpose for him. It seems our batsmen simply cant resist giving thick or thin edge on the off side to the slips or WK. They've got to practice on that or they will be in deep trouble in Pak. Some good cricket lately is getting to our boys heads, especially youngsters like Parthiv with poor stumping. They got to learn that these short wins donot boost performance, but only thorough and hardcore practice and staying away from glamour do. The result of this ODI series can already be guessed. The essence of Tests and ODIs till now is that the Aussies had been going through bad patch of luck and India through a fairly good patch. I would suggest foreign coaches (Aussies) for us as Indian veterans have in their careers been equally plundered.
Everybody is bashing at Steve Bucknor, but would anyone care to talk about the shoddy job of the match refree Clive Lloyd.Imposing heavy fines on Ganguly's team while letting Steve Waugh with an endless 45 minute extension would just be an addendum to his poor job.
Ha Ha.. Kudos prem.. excellently pointed out... I agree with all the sentences! Esp. where you said "Is he trying to take up a new profession called "Stand up comedy".. It was hilarious!..!
Now that India would be touring Pakistan in a month or so, I was quite curious to know the reactions of our neighbour to the batting exploits of India. The reactions and comments have been coming thick and fast right from the mercurial Javed Miandad to the great Khan. It was quite amusing to say the least.boy, arent they scared!!!! Javed Miandad is worried that Wasim Akram would teach Sachin Tendulkar and company how to play reverse swing! Can you believe it? Reverse swing is no longer is a secret weapon of Pakis and almost all countries have bowlers who could swing the old ball. Even in one dayers when the ball gets old, it does help bowlers who can reverse the swing the ball. Has Javed Miandad forgotten the one day match played between the two countries in the last world cup? Pakistan scored 272 and assumed that they could beat India hollow.what happens? India are 40 in about 4 overs! Their premier bowler, Mr Shoab Akhtar is taken to the cleaners! Pakistan was thrashed that day by 6 wickets..reverse swing or no reverse swing.
The comments of the great Khan is even more amusing and is a sure case of sour grapesImran Khan believes that India is doing well in Australia just because Gillespie and Lee are not fit and Mcgrath and Warne are not available.For the information of Imran, Lee clocked on a average over 150 kms and I suppose no fast bowler can clock that speed if he is not fit! The fact is Lee was never allowed to settle down and hammered in every match he played against India. In the matches Gilespie bowled, he was quick and accuratebut he too didnt do anything either. Warne might have bamboozled the Pakistan batsmen, but has never been a threat to Indian batsmenrather all the Indian batsmen fancy him and surely missed him in Australiaruns came faster when he came on to bowleven Warne would admit that. Macgrath alone cannot do anything if the other bowlers are going for runs.
The Pakistan Cricket Control Board is thinking of bringing back the ageing Waqar Younis.dont they have any good players around? They are scaredJaved Miandad and Imran might be trying to pep up the confidence of his team mates by such comments, but could work two ways, either it would creat a fear schycosis about the Indians or would give them a false sense of complacacy, both of which would be disastrous for the Pakistan team. The present Indian team specially the batting line up consists of batsmen who are not merely talented, but are very tough mentally who care a hook about reputation and could easily target Shoab Akhtar and dent his confidence.
All faults lies in us as all of us just cant get out of looking upon white skins and embracing "imported" and its true with our media also. there has been innumerable instances when we and our media writes and praises all goodies about foreigners keeps mum over their wrong doings...this is all because we dark skinners feel top of the world if some white skinner invites us over a cup of coffee..or chats with us or respects us..and that would not matter even if that white skinner is a sweeper by profession but we will hug him because of his superioirity in colour over us..after all who doesnt want a fair skin to marry, a fair child to be born..so its all in our blood..and the result is happening everywhere..that is the amount we love "goras", equally they hate us because we are "kalas".....
There is a limit to which we can tolerate these bias attitudes. When Waugh's team could not complete the 90 overs within the stipulated time and went beyond by more than half-an-hour, no action was taken, whereas Ganguly was called by the Match Referee and warned. But what is interesting is that earlier we were treated badly by the English and Australian umpires and match referees, but now even West Indian match referee and umpire have started treating us badly. Time the Board takes up the issue strongly with ICC .
i have been watching the matches from australia, and as one would expect, the commentry team on television is entirely australian, and it sickens me to hear them praise every little thing the australians do, while completely ignoring the indian achievements, and going as far as picking on the indians. the crowds at the games too i feel are extremly ill mannered and racist. india by far is the best place to be. cannot wait to get back.
hey prem i agree with what u have written this is not the first instance when indians have been treated like this or for tht matter an asian team has been treated like this....remember the mike denness incident...and it is high time now tht the BCCI takes a stand..they should remember tht BCCI is the richest board and its powerful than many other boards...and if it doesnt use its powers to protect the confidence of their players then when will it use..remember what happenned to sachin tendulkar when was given out wrongly in the first test..he lost his confidence i agree he was down in form but bad decisions like this brings the worst memories back and u tend to loose ur footings...there might be different views but i still say its high time now tht BCCI does something abt it..who stood besides harbhajan when he was called for chucking...and now he has proved his worth. BCCI should leave cowardice and come in front to help the players rights and confidence...tell them not to worry they r backed 1 billion supporters if not more...and being a journalist its ur duty to get the message thru to the authorities..so please do the needful and make us proud..jai hind.
