Dear Prem, We want sport reporting from you, not your views. You can express your views in separate column. What the umpires are doing, everything is seen by the viewers. Better you write about the skills of players. Sehwag was penalised, but Lara escaped. What the BCCI is doing about it. Dalmia used to provide great support for the players, not ony Indians but the other players also, example-Murlitharan, Shoaib, Harbhajan during their chucking case. What the present president is doing except thought of money-making ??
Prem's report is really superb. It exposes the total incompetence of the modern day Umpires in deciding appeals. The Elite panel is a sham to keep out the good and push in the favorite and desireable fellows into the panel. How is Mr Rauf found more competent than Jayaprakash or Hariharan only the ICC and the panell headed by Sunil Gavaskar will know. The aussie umpires have a mindset like their English counterparts of never giving a LBW decision against the batsmen while playing forward[rememberDickie Bird who prided himself in not giving any batsman o ut LBW] I also agree that Rahul is found wanting when out the routine and bold ideas are to be tried out. Pathan should be asked to take a sabbatical ,get his bowling act together before he is given another Test chace. His loss of form and substance is so abysmal. Putting him in the supr category of players just afer one good sries was a serious error of judgement
hey, c'mon man, Prem! keep ur articles, atleast that which reports like the one here, simple. i do appreciate ur literary/prose skills but i think this is a clear case of over doing it. garnishing too much. save those for ur articles on issues and opinions that we all, no doubt savour.
Based on what I saw in the second test the ICC will have to amend the laws of the game as follows: 1.Any batsman taking a stride forward cannot be given out lbw even if the ball is hitting middle stump. 2.The number of lbw decisions have to be balanced i.e if one team has x lbw decisions against it the same number of decisions have to go against the other team. 3.The db level of appeals has to be clearly defined.If an appeal is below that level the batsman cannot be given out,if it is above that level the bowler will be fined for excessive appealing.
If we look at both the tests, it is eveident that Indian does not have the skills to finish the match in a winning note. They let the pressure out when it is required to increase the pressure. Otherwise how one can justfy survival of tail enders for 6 odd overs without scoring single run? It does not mean to take away the credit from West Indians, perticularly Lara.
Your column seems to suggest that India couldn't win only due to the bad decisions given by the umpires. The fact is that this Indian team which is "Team Chappel+Dravid" was not good enough to win the test match. It seems that they failed to read the pitch, got the team selection wrong and they deserved the result they got. Stop complaining Mr. Panicker and stop writing biassed columns.
It is unfair to say indian bowlers failed to get a 9 wkts. whole one day play was ruined by rain. Team india played better cricket in this test. even there was close finish in last match like odis. WI palyed better cricket to save the game. india did not win the 1st match b'cuz of bizzare umpiring & this match rain rain. nobody can expect india to win match in 4 days in that flat dry pitch.
