To play or not to play

Not even the most rabid Australian fan could have celebrated after Australia’s record-equaling 16 match win. It is a shame really because Laksman’s enthralling batting, Sachin’s fantastic elegance, Kumble’s courage, Bhajji’s celebratory dance after getting his bunny Ponting, Symond’s amazing if fortuitous batting ,Lee’s belligerence, the tactics of Gilchrist standing up to Sachin and inducing him to play on ,Michael Clarke’s match winning bowling have all been drowned in the controversy of what has been arguably the worst umpiring of all time and even that has been overshadowed by the racist charge on Harbhajan and the consequent three match ban. In fact like the comedian in the Hindi film one is inclined to ask “Ye kya hora hai”?

What a game we almost had
There have been critics of test cricket and they have been justified in their criticism of the game for some time, used as they are to so many dull draws. However despite all the negatives that one can so easily say about the Australian cricket team one must concede that they have been positive and do not take a backward step even in the face of adversity as their mascot depicts. Even at Sydney, they kept playing positively despite the fact that wickets kept falling, as probably they had inside information about how Bucknor and Benson would give decisions! But seriously the match was amazing in its interest levels and standard of play and held our sustained attention till the very last ball was bowled, sadly at times for the wrong reasons.

Umpiring goof ups with a capital G
When I was young the words “Australian umpire” would evoke smirks from the rest of the world. Local umpires, not always competent or just tended to colour, our views on the performance of some of their greats at home. Yes they were good but… Now we have neutral umpires, which certainly removes bias from the equation but mistakes abound. Of course people like Sunil Gavaskar (who despite his numerous accomplishments does not have a positive view on anything in life, are adding fuel to the fire and making an already difficult situation impossible), have always maintained that umpires favour dominant teams and Australia certainly has been a dominant team for the last 12 years. Suddenly the views of people like Shivnarain Chanderpaul on the subject have become popular. My question remains “Would all our comments, criticism been as loud or as crude if we had been the beneficiaries?” Again let me go back to the point of “Umpire management” that I am fond of talking about. After ensuring that because he had a bad game, Steve Bucknor never officiates in an India game, we are ensuring that every umpire who has the “good fortune” of being the umpire for an India game wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat lest his effigy be burnt and lest he make it to the front pages of every Indian newspaper for some errors that might happen. Clearly he and Benson had a bad game, clearly Bucknor is way past his sell by date, but surely there is a better way of dealing with incompetence instead of publicly humiliating him and making him out to be someone out to get our country. The BCCI continues to show its monetary muscle in crises but where is the long term plan to make India a major force in cricket. We may have the money but how are we using all this to further the game in the country and our own standing with the international cricketing community? We are someone who jockeys, threatens and funds. Merely having the financial clout will only take us some distance. There has to be a smarter way which has some level of long range planning.

Racism, something else altogether
As though we did not have enough excitement for one week the Aussies, complained about Harbhajan and testified against him and he now has a three match ban. Has it gone beyond sledging? Imagine the “bad apple” in the class sneaking to the class teacher about another student and getting him expelled. This is exactly what Australia has done and somehow it seems incomprehensible that a country that has sledged right, left and centre suddenly is taking the moral high ground. And I really cannot understand what chip Symonds is carrying on his broad shoulders. Once again there is an opportunity for India to demonstrate how strong it is. Irrespective of what has happened I am sure the ban will be reversed and maybe even Procter too might get a rap on his knuckles. All of this makes one wonder if cricket is really worth watching from 5 in the morning if the activities on the field are going to be overshadowed by such bizarre events like these.

And yet..
Feelings in India are at all time high and emotions are at fever pitch. India is now very different from the way it was thirty or forty years ago. We were poor, bad travelers and the country that other cricketing teams hated to come to, or sent their second elevens. Today all that has changed. We are a vibrant economy with 1.3 billion people, many of whom are avid cricket watchers. Actually the word avid is perhaps an understatement and the right word is cricket mad and herein lies the problem. This nation can be easily swayed by the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and the numerous TV anchors who are playing to the gallery and giving a completely new twist to the sordid episode. Yes Australia won thanks to poor umpiring. It benefited them enormously. But what could they have done about it? If India had got the same largesse would we have declined it? Yes Australia did something unforgivable in ganging up against Harbhajan. Clearly the Sardar has got under their skin. But do we call off the tour for this? Isn’t it an extreme reaction of someone who has suddenly become very rich and powerful and will not let his neighbours forget it.

Calm heads the need of the hour
These are crazy times to live in, work in and watch cricket in. Passions ride high and patience is low. Yet it is not body line we are talking about, just poor umpiring. In any case Bucknor is finished and Procter almost on his way out. So let’s do what Kumble spoke about yesterday. Let’s focus on cricket.

And as for the average cricket fan, my suggestion to you is be calm if such a thing is possible and do not look for skeletons in every cupboard. And as for Star Cricket, just alternate the twenty minute commentary slots between the ones Australians see and the ones we see. That will give us a more balanced view .And finally quickly find replacements for Sunil Gavaskar and Harsha Bhogle otherwise India and Australia will soon become like India and Pakistan.

(Ramanujam Sridhar is the CEO of brand-comm and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds).