Firstly, I have always thought India represented the best the cricket world had to offer. Now I'm not so sure. The only things that happened in that cricket match that haven't happened a 100 times before all over the world are three things, the poor umpiring, the Clarke catch being referred to Ponting and the racism incident. 1) The poor umpiring had nothing to do with Oz. Blame the ICC. As for walking, no-one walks the world over so to accuse Oz of this standard is a bit rich. If someone walks its a bonus, always was and always will be. 2)The Clarke catch is the result of a poor match condition agreed to by both captains. If Ganguly (or any Indian player) took a half volley (and genuinely thought he caught it) and said to Kumble he took it, Kumble would have said yep, thats out. Whether Clarke genuinely thought this or not, only one person will ever know and anyones opinion to the contrary is just fiction. 3)Half you guys say Harbi did it but was provoked or its meaningless, the other half say he didn't. Either way, he was warned and barring any ridiculous conspiracy theories, he has gotten what he deserved. If the 'B' word uttered by Hogg is shown to be RACIALLY offensive (and not offensive per se) to Indians, then he should be educated (without penalty) of such like the India team was previously. Same yardstick.
So, everything else is just fiction or perception. India were probably the better team and lost. Won't be the first time or the last. Thats cricket.
RE:Aussie bashing
by Srinivas Kasinathan on Jan 08, 2008 05:03 PM Permalink
Fully agree with you. All said and done, Aussies are a first-class cricket team and it takes one helluva lot of capability to beat them. The problem is rarely does an opposition team get a chance to beat the Aussies. Such a chance did present itself in Sydney but the umpires spoiled the party and hence the outrage. This was augmented by the Bhajji-Symmo episode with characteristic bungling by Proctor (a product of the apartheid era of SA). The whole thing was fanned and fuelled by the media that always wants sensationalizm and will do whatever it takes to sensationalize the issue. That Aussies are arrogant goes beyond saying but whether any other team that plays and wins the way Aussies do will remain polite and humble is anybody's guess. With very little to its credit we have seen what India can come up to in the 20/20 world cup! My take on this: Let Indians win as many games as Aussies do and they have the licence to behave 10 times worser than Aussies do now! Yeah, but win first baby!
RE:RE:Aussie bashing
by Doogie Hauser on Jan 08, 2008 05:38 PM Permalink
What a lot of Indians fail to understand is most Aussies would love to see someone challenge our team and beat them regularly with good cricket. We view India as one of the few teams capable of this. Personally, I think our team is not arrogant, just confident in there own abilities to the point of being obnoxious. I've said this elsewhere, but all you need to do is turn up the microphones. When everyones on record, you'll see decent behaviour. If not, at least when people are suspended there will not be any doubt regarding guilt or innocence.
RE:Aussie bashing
by Bob Hair on Jan 08, 2008 05:23 PM Permalink
Srinivas I have not a problem with what you say. The problem I have with this test (which was incredibly tense and had great drama throughout, so therefore should be seen as a great one but by many it isn't) is that who knows what would have happened without the blunders. You know the what if game? If the umpiring had been right, Australia might have scored 200 in the first innings. But then what would India have scored. Both Laxman and Tendulkar were palpably out LBW in their innings and not given. In both cases, the ball pitched in line, wasn't near the bat and would have hit middle stump at or near half way up. So India might have been out for 200. Who knows? The problem is that we know there were many, many mistakes made, and it marred what should have been a great test. Cheers Bob
RE:Aussie bashing
by Doogie Hauser on Jan 08, 2008 05:43 PM Permalink
And poor umpiring is poor umpiring and tends to favour the home team. There was a time when Steve was the best ump in the world. Look on the bright side. I think Sharma is very raw but could be a world beater as a bowler. He's a real find.
RE:RE:Aussie bashing
by Manavendra Choudhury on Jan 08, 2008 06:30 PM Permalink
I think this is a watershed Test in the history of modern-day cricket. Possibly the beginning of an end. Whatever happens to H.Singh, or Bucknor, or Ponting, cricket will never be the same again.
