The fine print

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is old news. No one cares about the primaries in US of A and Kenya is way too remote to relate to. All the Indian media and people seem to care about the last two days and possibly for few more days is what happened over 5 days at the start of a new year. To be clearer for others, I am referring to THE 2nd test match between India and Australia at Sydney. A game that is being remembered only for all the controversies surrounding it and none at all for some fine cricket that was being played by two teams out there.

The 1st day's play saw a see-saw battle between the Aussie batsmen and the Indian bowlers, all that was discussed was Steve Bucknor not giving Andrew Symonds out. Yeah true it was blatant but the way Indian bowlers responded after the last test match which saw lots of runs plundered against them and then barring that decision the fightback Symonds, Hogg and Lee put up there must surely be worth discussing at some point. Here is one perfect specimen of a one-day player. Bulky, powerful, fast, athletic allrounder in Symonds. And he shows how to bat responsibly with a lower middle order and tail to define a game.

After frustrating the Indian bowlers some more on the 2nd day, finally the Indian batsmen got a chance to redeem themselves for the failure of 2 innings in the boxing day match. Dravid opening the innings once again, scratched, itched and scrapped around but hung on. Spent a miserable time trying to find out the class in him. May not have found it but found that dogginess about himself which endears him to his peers when they talk about great test batsmen. At the other end was someone who had found a new lease of life for himself on this very ground many years ago when he cracked a carefree masterpiece in the last match of a lost series. Laxman simply stroked a classy century.

When things seem to be moving the other way with quick wickets, two wily veterans built up another partnership. Here the Indians were showing the same fight that the world's best side had shown a day before and eating away at the lead. If the aussie tail could do it, the Indians decide to better them and kicked the same bowlers who had frustrated them by actually surpassing the Aussie total. In all this there was this small side story of a man hungry for another century which had evaded him for almost a year in all forms of the game after he had had so many others before then. Still instead of discussing this, the media were still talking about the huge lead India would have had had Bucknor did what he was supposed to do.

Around 1000 runs had been scored by the two teams and one would have been looking at some lame cricket on the last day but no.. hold on! it was just the start of the 4th day's play. All results were still possible and who would not have liked it with a test match so well poised (The Indian media perhaps!!). While Indian bowlers had some quick strikes in the middle, once again the Aussie batsmen fought around and built up a decent lead and declared with a whiff of a chance of win just before lunch on the last day. While one of the possible results had been eliminated, two others were on. India for all the batting prowess it possessed and the big score it had posted, batting for 72 overs should have been easy.

That is when things went terribly wrong (from Indian perspective I guess). The umpires made 2 BAD BAD mistakes. One (Dravid) could still be forgiven as Bucknor honing his senses for any deviation to be given out after the big goof up he had caused on the first day. The other (Ganguly's) is inexcusable. An umpire not abiding by the laws of cricket, ones which he is supposed to upheld. If the main umpire is in doubt, he has to first enquire with the square leg umpire and then if still both are in doubt go to the 3rd umpire. It is that simple. To have forgotten your ABCs is not pardonable. But were these the only reason India lost? Yes they played a big hand, I agree. Two players who were willing to duke it out there were left undone. But what about the others. All this hoopla has players like Yuvraj conveniently escape the heat. We could have done better for 5 days in the match without him at all. After all, very surprising that such an even match until then was being played by a team of 9 (Jaffer is on a sigh seeing trip while Yuvraj is chasing a Padukone in skirts) against a team of 11+2 it may have seemed.

But still it was a true test match. Kumble fighting it out till the end almost saved the match from all the blunders of the umpires. Dhoni who could have just as easily folded like Yuvraj, trying to better the tour for himself and Bajji already playing under a cloud of racist allegations willing to let go of his shots of first innings to do something. The Aussies fought the way they do. Sledged (so what?) and finally bullied their way to victory. But then who has stopped others from doing it too? If you wish to play in the same field as Aussies you have to strengthen yourselves. Crying foul and walking out of matches/series is not the solution. All other Indian cricket fans apart, I for one only think of one way to look for justice. Go back out there in Perth and fight harder. I hope I have some others looking for the same.

p.s. The ICC-BCCI showdown as people have termed it is a topic for another time.