Nothing has changed

“Cleared of any charges of racism. Fined 50% of match fee for abusive behaviour.”
This is the outcome of the much awaited Harbajan Singh hearing.
On the face of it, it appears fair. On second thoughts it is not. It is more of a diplomatic stand taken by the ICC to salvage the series and the image of the ACB.

Australians are known to play the game exactly the same way as they have accused the Indians of in this series. It’s a case of one finding the taste of ones own medicine bitter.

Throughout this tour, they have been exposed to aspects of the game that they are not used to. Firstly, a solid fight back by the opponent. I do not know when was the last time a side kept them in the field for five sessions and that too, in Australia. They never loose at Perth. They were also found vulnerable under pressure.
What did not change is the arrogance. Their Aussie arrogance which is unjustified in any case and with a side like the one they possess currently, even more so.

They never expected the stand that BCCI took and the push back they received was unexpected.

The manner in which Mike Procter handled the issue initially was in fact in the same mould as the way the Australians played cricket and the way beings like Darrel Hair carried out his umpiring time and again, the Slater incident with Dravid, the McGrath-Sarwan incident.
How can these people ever accuse any one else of racism or abusive behaviour??? The appeal itself is as bizarre as anything I have heard.

ICC and ACB could not possibly allow the tour to be called of as that would mean strained relations with the very rich BCCI. I always believed that what the ICC will do is find a middle path wherein the BCCI feels satisfied and the ACB’s face is saved as well. The ICC has done exactly that!

Talking of the hearing, there was so evidence what so ever apart from the players there. So one should actually question the basis of the accusation which the BCCI did. In my opinion it was imperative for the ICC to revoke the ban and the charge.

The question we need to ask here is that, what is the basis of the 50% match fee fine in the name of abusive behaviour??? Doesn’t the absence of circumstantial evidence hold true here as well? Doesn’t this charge mean that Bajji is still guilty? In my opinion, it does and so I question why the BCCI has accepted this decision and not the earlier one. In my opinion, there is no difference.

BCCI has always questioned the basis and the ethical foundation of the charge. Levying of any charge on Bajji means that there was in the first place a basis for the original charge.

In my opinion, nothing has changed. This verdict is as bad as it was. What Australia has also managed in the process of the “negotiation” is to get the name of Brad Hogg out of the mess.

I am extremely saddened by the nonsense we put up with in spite of being The BCCI. The only reason I can think of for this is the sponsors. They are the ones who give BCCI the muscle and they are the ones who would loose most if the series was called off.
Hence I believe, the stand.

In the process, we have exposed our weakness, which we all believed was our biggest strength. I will not be surprised if this lays down an unpleasant precedent for tournaments to come.

Oval and (flat-) Out

Giving due credit to the Indian batsmen, the Adelaide track seems to have nothing much in it for the bowlers. I believe this is the rationale which justifies the inclusion on the fifth bowler in the Indian line up.
Kumble has been spot on with his reading of the pitch on almost all occasions and looks like he has got it spot on this itme as well.

As an Australian supporter, I would have counted on the WACA test to go Australia’s way. Assuming that the two teams shared the honours in the first two tests, the series would be poised at 2-1 in favour of Australia if not 3-0 before the final test. (I would have expected India to not win more than one of the first three tests due to the inexperience in the bowling attack.)

It is in the interest of the hosts to secure the series rather than go for an all out win and give a chance to India to end up with 2-2. The Australians seemed to have taken this play-safe approach and presented India with a batting track.

Australia, a few tours back, would have made a fast bouncy track to do India in but the choice of a flat track displays the respect that they have for the Indian batting. Perth test outcome has yet again proved the might of the Indian batsmen and hence the approach.

Ricky Ponting is going through a phase where in he has to look for happenings to save face and India squaring the series would not do him much good. If India manages to square the series, they would turn back and claim that if the Sydney test mishap hadn’t occurred, who knows the series would have ended 2-1 in favour of India.

In my opinion India missed a trick when batsmen like VVS and Ganguly departed early. If either of them would have stuck around a bit longer, we may have been able to declare at least one session earlier giving our bowlers a bit more time to get 20 wickets.

So, honestly I do not expect a result in this match unless any side crumples under pressure which both have done a few times in the series.

End of an ERA

I believe we are in the midst of by far the most eventful tour that we have seen for quite some time now, both on the field and off it. Proceedings have been nothing less than dramatic.

The last entrant to the already large list of events was the announcement of the one day squad for the series down under. Rahul Dravid wasn’t called back and Sourav Ganguly was axed.

The last time this happened there was a state wide furor in West Bengal and the matter very surprisingly became a talking point in the national parliament! Not surprising as the representatives of the people do not miss a single opportunity to extract political mileage. Ganguly was indeed going through a long lean patch at that time and hence the exclusion seemed justified then.

The manner in which the Prince of Calcutta fought his way back into the side deserves a huge applause. It is not easy to start all over again, prove yourself at the domestic level and stage a come back. The number of rising young stars added to his problem.

The story has been quite different since then. In the last few ODI series, Ganguly and Sachin have been the main stay of the Indian batting with occasional contributions from Yuvraj and Dhoni.
So, the big question, “How justified is the exclusion this time???”

If one looks dispassionately at the decision, yes he has been making runs with quite a bit of consistency. No taking credit away from him. But we also need to understand the one day game has changed with the advent of youngsters. It has not only become faster but has become more aggressive. No doubt that Ganguly can bat and deliver the goods even now and for quite some time to come, there are other aspects about him which I believe have supported the axe.

He is at best an ordinary fielder. We saw how in the test series, the Australian batsmen would push for the second every time the ball went to Ganguly and Ishant Sharma. This phenomenon will be more pronounced in the shorter format of the game.

One more important factor has been his running between the wickets. He may not make it to the list of the most forgettable runners between the wickets but is at max presentable. This is more prominent when he has younger legs at the other end.

Sehwag has announced his return with a few cameos and has inspired confidence and displayed form and has added to Sourav's worries. He in my opinion is a sure inclusion in the team and Sachin’s opening partner for some time to come.

To sum it up, what happened to VVS a couple of years back, has happened to Rahul and now to Sourav.

This I believe marks of the end of an era that saw India’s most prolific opening pair celebrate cricket.

The only thing I regret is the Colonnel’s press statement indicating that Sourav has at most a year of cricket left in him and he has to look beyond and also the timing of the announcement. It could have been done more tastefully. What we least need at this point is the morale of certain key members go down in a test as crucial as this one. Not only because we have a chance to square the series and then believe that the series result could have been different but for the Sydney mishap but also for the fact that the Aussies are injured lions now and they are very dangerous when like.