Shaken and Stirred

Till about a month back, the question on everyone's minds was "How do we make the Tests less boring?". Of course, that was until it was revealed that the most fervent followers of the game - the bookies - like Test Cricket the best as they make the most money from it! Well, at least someone does... Test cricket is always termed by most players - former, current and currently suspended - as the pinnacle of cricket, the ultimate test of your abilities on the field. With the exception of Chris Gayle, who was then blasted for such blasphemy. Drawing on my years of playing test cricket, (our own street test cricket version where hitting a six was considered out, to ensure more measured play) I can empathise with that opinion. But, my views as a discerning observer of the more commonly known form of test cricket will be suitable for the purposes of this post. Professional sport, after all, is a microcosm of life itself. Grown men and women try their best to out-do one an...

Now that the ICC has acquisced to the Indian team's demand of replacing Bucknor and the procedure for the appeal against Harbhajan is underway, it is time for Cricket to come to the forefront again. The emotional outbursts against the Australian team's behavior while understandable should be transient. Lets recapitulate what all they have done to so upset us and unite the whole nation behind the team: Ricky Ponting, the Aussie captain, after entering into a gentleman's agreement with Anil Kumble chose to use it as and when it suited his advantage Ponting, Symonds, Clarke, Hussey were guilty of not walking when clearly out Gilchrist appealed for a catch that he must have known to be non-existent Excessive appealing and harassing the umpires Celebrating like a group of 15 year olds and not giving credit to the deserving opposition Accusing Harbhajan Singh of racial abuse after deliberately taunting and provoking him It is quite clear that to make an issue out of 2, 3, 5 and w...

The Indian cricket team suffered at the hands of an establishment which has repeatedly shown itself to have a separate set of standards for non-white teams. Here are some of them that immediately spring to mind: The preposterous decision to just fine Mark Waugh and Shane Warne after their self-confessed encounters with bookmakers while banning Ajay Jadeja for a similar crime The Mike Denness shocker , who incidentally shares his first name with Mike Proctor (the match referee for the Sydney test), where Indians players including Sachin and Sourav were fined and banned for 'ball tampering' and 'excessive appealing' without any complaints from the umpires themselves Darryl Hair 's accusing Pakistan of ball tampering and consequently calling off the test match when the offended Pak team walked off the ground Muralitharan's elbow flex was deemed to be way over the prescribed 5 degrees and censure was imminent before the ICC found that many bowlers including Brett L...

Well, the Cricket fanatic that I am, I read this Cricinfo article on famous quotes in the world of cricket this year and here are some excerpts: "There are generally no reporters at our matches, either to see our team's performances, or my dimples." Mithali Raj , captain of the Indian women's team, bemoans the lack of media coverage of women's cricket "I've always subscribed to the theory that you shouldn't make a fast bowler angrier than he already is." A deadpan James Sutherland , Australia's chief exec, when asked for his thoughts about Tait's action "Who made them boring?" Looking straight at the camera, a deadpan Richie Benaud responds to Geoff Boycott's call for four-day Tests because five days are, apparently, boring "I realised the ball was bigger than one person, bigger than Gilchrist. It was the public's ball." In a speech worthy of a film, John , the man who found the ball Adam Gilchrist hit for ...