Bhajji banned, I say call off the series - Page 3

Did Australia face ban yet? 😉

The Australian media, players and public who used racist terms against players of color are called Racists

Most Indians love to hate racists, now being something we love to hate is another thing😆

😆 😆The issue here is not that. Focus...focus.

The issue here is we are saying we should use our financial strength to help put down a person based upon their race. I think we hated that concept when it was us on the recieving end and now we are doing the same to another person.

Arent we questioning the Aussies for the same flip floping?

Pardon my French but this whole entire test match has been a load of large animal excrement. Had it not been for a excremental load of umpiring errors we would have won the game. Of course part of it does come on us some batsmen did not stand through for the draw. However, you cannot ignore the fact that the whole test was lop-sided with every decision going against India. Not close ones, or missed by a whisker, brutally wrong decisions.

Now I won't say Bhajji is completely innocent. He is a fiery one, who gives as good as he gets. Nothing holds him back from giving a piece of his mind. He does lose his cool too easily and needs to cool his horses. At the same time I do not see him as one reacting unless provoked. I also have a lot of trust in Tendulkar's word because he has always been a calm person with a pretty integral career.

To me monkey is not a racial abuse. Anyone who looks and acts like a monkey is a monkey. Symonds fits the bill. I would call him one and not think about it. I would not racially abuse a person of color as monkey. Firstly I do not racially abuse and people of color act like humans.

Either way the ICC rules are clear. Subcontinental cultural perceptions have no holding. If the Aussie says it is racism then it must be no doubt about that. Clearly Indians have absolutely no understanding of racism and racial abuse and would be hurling countless abuses at people if not for the dear Aussies who keep us enlightened and informed and keep our people disciplined.

Any way back on a sober note. Perhaps Bhajji may need a short ban to remind him to cool himself and avoid getting into such messes. But what about Ponting who helped an umpire to make a decison - that is downright wrong. What about all the abuse Aussies do and continue doing. What about the provoking us.

However, I am not from backing out from the series. We may have lost the second game, but we gave a fight. I think despite everything going against us the team deserves credit for trying when the umpires themselves were on the other team.

The Australians maybe good cricket players, their domination in cricket for so long proves that they are good at the game. It would be foolish of me to say they are not good. They are definitely better than us. However, they do not have a smidgeon of integrity. Just a bunch of [Bleeping Beelpity Bleepersons] who act like Gods. Since Steve Waugh the Australian team has really gown downhill in attitude. I would love to see our team try and fight it out and try to beat them in their own home turf. I want our team to be the one that stops them from going on a record winning spree. Even if we fail, at least we tried. Losing under adversity sounds better than winning the Aussie way. Edited by return_to_hades - 16 years ago

Indian Express Editorials

Baggy Green in its true colours

G S Vivek

Posted online: Monday, January 07, 2008 at 0000 hrs IST

Sydney, January 6

The Baggy Green is amongst the most respected and distinct identities in international cricket, but this Australian team has shown its true colours. The team stayed in the dressing room very late in the night, waiting for their skipper and other mates to return from the Harbhajan Singh hearing, and partied long after their hard-fought win in the the second Test here. The Indian team, though, is clear that the Australians cheated to win.

"Only one team played in the spirit of the game, that's all I can say." Anil Kumble made this subtle, yet scathing attack against the Australians' unsporting attitude by repeating the same line that Bill Woodfull, the former Australian skipper used in the 1932-33 Bodyline series against England.

Skipper Ricky Ponting led the way in on that front too. Ponting's appeals on the field and his strong defence of his team's approach clearly suggest that the Australian skipper, who sportingly denied taking a catch of Rahul Dravid on Day Two, was a mere aberration from his normal self.

Today, Ponting claimed a catch of Dhoni when he had clearly grounded the ball, though thankfully it was adjudged not out by the umpire as it had not hit the bat. This was in blatant violation to the verbal deal accepted from either skipper to be honest to the umpires, who would refer to them first in case of doubt.

"There's no way I grounded that ball. If you're actually questioning my integrity in the game, then you shouldn't be standing there. You know what I did in the first innings. Doesn't that explain the way I play the game?" asked Ponting.

No matter how fiercely the Australian skipper defended himself, his fate was sealed by the television replays that detailed the truth. Joining him in the ranks was his deputy Adam Gilchrist, very famous ly considered a honest walker, who straight away appealed twice for caught behind when there was no evidence clearly of the bat involved anyway. He got Rahul Dravid off Andrew Symonds though Gilchrist wasn't too lucky against Dhoni.

Australia's next skipper in the making is not totally unrelated to this school of thought either. Clarke waited for the umpire to give him out despite a big edge that went into second slip yesterday before claiming a Sourav Ganguly catch that clearly bounced before his hand. Ganguly stood his ground while Benson, keeping in mind the agreement between two skippers, asked Ponting who signaled out with a raised finger after consulting Clarke who indicated in the affirmative.

Then there's Symonds, who stood his ground after getting a nick and then admitted it openly and carried on to bat the next day. Matthew Hayden, too, admitted yesterday that there's nothing wrong in waiting for the umpire's finger to go up even when you know you are out.

Obviously, the pressure to make the record-equaling 16th Test victory was too much to handle for the world-beaters to approach it with the right spirit and the Indian team certainly minced no words about that. "We'd like to play hard on the field and expect that from the Australians as well," Kumble said.

"I've played my cricket very sincerely and honestly, that's the approach my team takes, and we expect that from Australia as well," he added.

http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/258380.html

 

Atrocious umpiring aids amazing Aussie run

G S Vivek

Posted online: Monday, January 07, 2008 at 0000 hrs IST

Sydney, January 6

Among the bevy of middle-aged professionals who finished playing at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday evening, the oldest of that lot — 61-year-old Steve Bucknor and 49-year-old Mark Benson — walked away as outright match-winners.

Already bleeding by their constant pawing from that raised finger, the Indian team opted for time-delaying tactics to try and save the second Test against this Australian side, which looked determined to match the record-equaling feat by hook or by crook.

Ishant Sharma stopped abruptly and waved towards the pavilion for a change of gloves after having just walked in a few metres inside to take guard. Minutes before, RP Singh took a longer time to walk back after being dismissed than he would have to finish an over. But, however hard the Indian team tried to stoop as low as the umpiring standards and the honesty levels of its opponents in this game, they failed.

So, Australia won the second Test by 122 runs, eight minutes and seven balls before the scheduled close on the final day and thus managed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by going 2-nil up here. As Ricky Ponting led his team to an outrageous celebration on-field, little did he realise that he was only glorifying his counterpart, who remained unconquered on 45 from 111 balls, and the Indian team which, despite its inability to bat through the 72 overs while chasing an improbable 333, went down bravely as martyrs against sinful umpiring and willful claimants to catches that were taken off the ground or never hit the bat.

Michael Clarke's three wickets in the penultimate over to get rid of Harbhajan Singh and RP Singh off the first two balls, and off the fifth delivery to dismiss Ishant giving Australia the match would be encrypted in scoresheets as much as another part-time option, Andrew Symonds, who got a similar haul of wickets to his name. But a more critical contribution to this Australian victory rose from their conscience that allowed Symonds to take note of the general incompetence of umpires and ask for a caught behind appeal against Rahul Dravid when there was clearly no bat involved and Clarke, who claimed he took a clean catch off

Sourav Ganguly's edge at second slip, when the fact remained otherwise.

Those, particularly the last one, were the turning points of the game as India, who looked wobbly in their bid to save this match got working a 61-run fourth-wicket partnership between Dravid and Ganguly.

The latter got his fourth start in as many innings in this series and looked the most confident with his front foot play, and determined as well — by not raising his bat after reaching his half-century in 51 balls with nine boundaries, signaling his job remains unfinished—but was done in.

Dravid played the sheet anchor role and was looking rock-solid despite a dropped chance by Symonds on 18, though the fact also remains that Benson failed to spot a no-ball off Mitchell Johnson.

Things moved smoothly and safe before two bad decisions — first Dravid and then Ganguly — on either side of an out-of-form bat in the middle effectively sealing the fate of the match. Yuvraj Singh failed to stand up when the situation demanded the most of him, edging a Symonds delivery and dismissed for no score. M S Dhoni, who had looked equally out of sorts as Yuvraj at number six and Wasim Jaffer at the top, took a valiant stance for 117 minutes for his 35 before washing it off by not offering any shot to Symonds.

India had got off to a disastrous start, losing Jaffer pre-lunch for no score, edging Lee behind the wicket, while VVS Laxman failed to get his bat down in time and was plumb in front despite reassuring till the time he lasted. Sachin Tendulkar, who once again looked in sublime touch, fell while gaining an inside edge on to his stumps as he looked to leave that delivery from Stuart Clark.

Ponting, the Punter, played a safe bet today—continuing to bat for two hours and 10 minutes as Hussey made the most with a century off 207 balls to raise his tempo substantially. Giving him company was Symonds, who after his big knock in the first innings, plundered RP Singh through covers for 17 in one over and Kumble to score a half-century. Australia lost wickets as they went in search of quick runs before declaring at 401/7— Hussey remaining unbeaten on 145 that contained twelve boundaries, including two reverse-sweep shots that banged into the hoardings.

With a four-plus required rate, India considered a draw as the only fair and practical result in the fourth innings on a deteriorating pitch.

However, it's a shame that India, who flickered and fluctuated between dominating, winning and saving this match ended up losing because most in the order failed to match the application and sensibility that Kumble showed at the crease. And that included the two men in black and white.

http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/258378.html

 

I concur, effective immediately India needs to walk away from this series in protest. The BCCI needs to show that they are composed of real men as Navjot Singh Sidhu has been screaming from the roof top on Aaj Tak all day today. Sharad Pawar needs to put his ambition of becoming the Chairman of the ICC on hold as a show of solidarity with the Indian Team, just like Mr. Dalmiya did a while back. The Australian brand of cricket is no longer a Gentleman's Game.

 

 

Edited by bunbutt_too - 16 years ago

Pleasure to see yaa here, thanks for sharing interesting articles.

Edited by raj5000 - 16 years ago

The crowd didn't call Symonds monkey because he's black it's more cos of the way he appears on the field with a weird hairstyle, zinc oxide, aggressive behaviour and all. If someone acts like a joker, others obviously have a right to call him a joker.

If it was only for his color, then don't you think the West Indian players would've faced such attacks long back. Who asked Symonds to tie four or five braids on the top of his forehead or apply the zinc in such a weird manner.

Lage raho Munnabhai.

It is time to show who the strongest team is😛. Anyways India is going to appeal. So ban is not applicable till they arrive at a decision.