Re-re-re-repeats and general rants

I dont know what its about, but I have really been into re-reading, re-listening, re-watching and all things re ! Maybe this nostalgia is a sign of advancing age??

I have a bunch of books I bought lately which I havent read yet. Instead I find myself constantly trying to decide which of my books to re-read. Should it be the adventures of Rumpole, barrister-at-law, or the long journey of Frodo Baggins carrying his precious cargo? Will it be Ian Rankin's rugged Scottish mysteries or Satyajit Ray's Feluda stories set in often exotic parts of India? Neil Gaiman's Sandman volumes steeped in obscure histories, or Alan Moore's V for Vendetta set in a bleak, hopeless future? Even the contemplation brings me joy.

Coming to music, I was going nuts trying to find a few CD's I had misplaced. A bunch of Led Zep albums, which were once my regular listening, had been misplaced in an avalanche of electronic media. Sometimes, you keep the things you love the most in a place you feel is the most secure, and then you cant find it just coz its not where all your other stuff happens to be! Luckily, I did remember where it was, and with it found the wonderful unplugged Nirvana album, a collection of Hindi music I didnt even remember owning, REM's Monster and the wonderfully hard and heavy MI2 soundtrack. So, there it was. Audio nirvana!

I have just not had time for movies lately though. So what I have seen is just what was on tv, but then you still need to select which one you wanna watch, right? And again, I find myself preferring the ones I have seen before. Saw Seven recently, and was waiting for it with bated breath, although I have seen it at least thrice.

Apart from all this nostalgia though, hasnt there just been too much cricket lately? The IPL was great fun to begin with, but surprisingly as it came closer to the final stages, I found my interest waning somewhat. There is such a thing as overkill, and the IPL doesnt seem to get that, what with that Lalit Modi looking to add two more teams into the league.

But the beginning of the T20 World Cup has been interesting though. The last ball win for the Netherlands over England, the strong showing by Scotland against NZ, and the Windies beating the Aussies; all go to show that the 20-20 format is the one which has the most likelihood of producing upsets as there is simply no time to recover sufficiently from a bad period in the game. Lets hope for a few more interesting results. Maybe if Netherlands or Scotland go out and win the damn thing, the cricketing world will come to see the 20-20 format for the lottery it really is!!

(Image courtesy cricket.yahoo.com)

The 'Values' of the ICC

The crux of the issue which caused the Indian team to take a stand and put the tour on hold has truly got swept under all the rhetoric which has been pouring out from every news channel and any two-bit columnist with half a keyboard.

Its not like this is the first time that India (or a sub-continent team) has faced awful umpiring. Its happened before and we have always taken it on the chin and gone on. How many times have Indian fans not groaned when the Indian captain remarks after another lost test match that 'these things happen in cricket', and maybe we should have done better inspite of poor decisions. But this is definitely the first time that the Indian team has taken such a strong stand against it. The key issue here is the fact that the Indian team has not asked for the second test to be annulled. They have asked that the umpires responsible for this embarassment of a result, should not be allowed to stand in the remaining matches.

The other main issue is that the Indian team believes there is no case against Harbhajan, and there should not have been any ban imposed on him consequently. Its clearly a scenario where a group of people feel hard done by, and are demanding justice. The fact that this group of people happens to be the Indian cricket team, the so-called most powerful cricket team in terms of financial clout, is immaterial. If this situation had happened with Zimbabwe playing against Kenya, the issue would still have been as important.

There are so many organisational faults with the ICC that its just a mystery how this body manages to keep a hold on world cricket. The very fact that even the CEO of this organisation, Malcolm Speed, is incapable of sifting through the mounds of crap and addressing the real issue, is astounding. The last thing this issue needed was for Speed to call a press conference and tell the world that the ICC will not allow a different set of rules for India. We have not asked for different rules, Mr Speed, we have asked that a different set of rules currently favouring Australia be not allowed. We have asked you for justice, Mr Speed. Does that sound like a familiar word?

I would really like to know what the responsibilities or objectives of the ICC are. Have they been written down somewhere? Do the employees of the International Cricket Council know what is involved in being a cog in the wheel that runs the global game?

In fact, they have been put up on their website. Hmm.. The ICC Mission! Values!

The ICC Mission
As the international governing body for cricket, the
International Cricket Council will lead by:

• Promoting and protecting the game, and its unique spirit
• Delivering outstanding, memorable events
• Providing excellent service to Members and stakeholders
• Optimising its commercial rights and properties for the benefit of its
  Members

How do you protect the game, Mr Speed? Why has there never been any protection to Asian teams against the boorish Aussies? Do I even need to give examples here? Why didnt the ICC step in during the tens of occasions of boorish behaviour from the Australian team - the one team that has consistently claimed to be a proponent of 'hard cricket'. But they could never take it themselves, could they? So when the Indians appeal strenuously for a catch which they believe was taken, Sehwag is suspended. But here we have two cases - Ponting's awful 'cheat of the worst kind' appeal, and the equally awful 'Fifth umpire' ruling of Clarke's catch. Where is the protection, Mr Speed? Who are you protecting, Malcolm? Sehwag and the Indian team has no integrity? Whereas Ponting does?

Excellent service to members?? Clearly, Mike Procter has a different idea about providing service to the member countries of the ICC. How can you, Malcolm, overlook the fact that Mike Procter doled out a three match ban without a shred of evidence, except for hearsay from the Aussies? How do you provide for the selective acceptance of evidence from the Aussies, without considering that there was one other voice in the room which claims that the racist remark was not made? The person who that voice belonged to, was one of two people who were withing hearing distance during the incident, but he must have been lying, right? He isnt an Aussie after all. Why is it that your countrymen are considered to have more integrity than two veterans of the game, both with flawless records of having played the game with dignity and integrity? Is the ICC racist, Mr Speed?

'Openness, honesty and integrity' - these are some of the values espoused by your organisation. There is 'Accountability and responsibility', 'Respect for our diversity' and finally - 'Fairness and equity'. Please point out some instances of any of these values being upheld during and after the Sydney test, Mr Speed.

And with your comments equally distorting the real issues involved here, maybe its time to drop the hypocrisy and note down the real 'Values' you uphold, Mr Speed.

Just not cricket...

The horrendous decision making by the umpires in the second test is completely ridiculous. At the time of writing this, Sunil Gavaskar is coming close to letting his rage become dangerously visible while commenting on India's continuing attempt to save the match. The problem is that the Indian team is not up against a team of 11 Aussies, but also against one West Indian, one Englishman and one South African. And you could probably add a bunch of others in the ICC to that list.

No other test match comes to mind when the poor (and i really mean pathetically, abysmally, match-fixer-allegationally poor) decision making by the umpires has contributed so much to the possible result of the test match.

Andrew Symonds, that proud protector of his race's pride and dignity, that hard-done-by accuser of racial insults being hurled his way by Harbhajjan Singh who himself had gone through a couple of hours of sledging being hurled his way constantly by 5 or 6 aussie players - that Symonds, maybe an Aussie symbol of sportsmanship, stayed his ground with a wonderful display of opportunism while the myopic Steve Bucknor spent about fifteen minutes in deciding that a clear caught-behind was actually not out. Then when the bowler, young Ishant Sharma, stood pulling his hair out in large chunks, that same deaf and dumb umpire thought it to be an act of great dissent, worthy of a reference in his report. Then later, even the third umpire got into the fun and decided to rule a clear stumping as not out. Symonds went on to score a large hundred and 'rescued' Australia from a bad situation.

Follow that up with the awful decisions against the Indian players, which has been written enought about in the media. The latest ones were Dravid being given out caught behind when he didnt touch the ball, and Ganguly being given caught in the slips by Mark Benson, who seems to believe that Ricky Ponting is the third umpire. He didnt feel the need to check whether the catch was clearly taken through the third umpire, relying on Ponting's immensely unbiased opinion. To add salt, haldi and Everest ka Tikhalal mirchi to the wounds, Ganguly's questions to the buffoon getting his paycheck under the heading 'Umpire' will probably be seen as dissent as well.

Adding to the awful umpiring, has been the opportunistic appealing and ugly unsporting behaviour shown by the Australian team. Lead by the one captain in international cricket who has no claims to playing anything called the 'gentleman's game', the Aussies have shown that a talented team can still be so ugly on the field that they earn nothing but disrespect.

I think its pretty unlikely, but in case any Australian fans pass through this blog someday, THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKET TEAM IS FULL OF CHEATS!!! And the biggest is Ricky Ponting, who is also a liar. Gleeful about the awful umpiring which has consistently been biased against the Indian team, he has lead his team to appeal on anything and everything, whether it be an authentic chance or not. They have obviously gone with the plan of piling pressure on the chumpires and push them further towards making their dreadful decisions. Every time the ball hits the pads, they all go up in appeal. Every time the ball goes past the bat, they go up in appeal.

And they do this in the safe knowledge, that this team of ugly over-achievers have always been sheltered by the incompetent idiots who head the 'ICC'. The kings of on-field sledging have never faced any inquiries against them (except the pathetic time when Warne had the balls to go on air and apologize for having fixed a match, and was let go relatively easily), but their opponents have consistently been brought to book for various acts including dissent whenever they let out a groan of despair when their hard-work comes to nothing. I may not have all the stats, but I cannot remember the last time when any Australian players were brought to book for their aggression on the field.

At the time of writing this post, there are 11 more overs to go for India to avoid defeat. Dhoni and Kumble are standing tall at the crease and trying to hold the fort. But it is so much more difficult knowing that you dont really have to make a mistake to be given out. It may just depend on the awful umpires imaginations fuelled further by the fact that Ricky 'The Cheat' Ponting and his boys seem pretty confident about having got their man.

Update:
:( Damn! Damnnn! DAMN!!!!

I hope this serves as a lesson to the bloody dimwits in the BCCI and wakes them up to taking some action against each and every umpire involved in this game. If either of Steve Bucknor or Mark Benson are ever seen officiating another cricket match, it will be a shame for everyone involved in this damn game!!! My condolences to Anil Kumble and his boys.