team win

Indian captain Anil Kumble praised the character of his players after they beat Australia by 72 runs in the third Test in Perth to keep the series alive at 2-1. Victory was assured on day four of the match with Australia bowled out for 340 after they had been set a target of 413 to win. It was their first Test loss for nearly 30 months and a first at home for nearly four years. A delighted Kumble told a press conference after the match: "We had our moments in Melbourne and Sydney but I'm really happy that we could grab those opportunities here in Perth. "We were 2-0 down and we knew could lose the series here if we didn't play really well so it was important that we came back and we've done that." He also paid tribute to the way in which his players had moved on from the controversy that surrounded the series in the wake of Australia's last-gasp win in Sydney. Harbhajan Singh was subsequently banned for racially abusing Andrew Symonds and the Indian board threatened to cancel the tour. "I don't think there was any kind of revenge or ill-feeling but it was important that we rallied around ourselves," he said. "We all sat down and discussed how we were going to go forward. That's when we decided we'd concentrate on cricket and leave the rest of the matters to whoever needs to handle it. "It was important we focussed all our efforts on playing cricket. I'm really glad everyone responded and stepped up to the plate." Kumble said that the win ranked as one of India's greatest achievements on a cricket field. "Considering the fact that no visiting team gets any sort of chance coming into Perth and being 2-0 down, it was a great effort and a brilliant victory," he said. "If you look back at whatever victories I've been involved in both at home and away this will probably rank as one of the best. "We came here to win the series, to play good cricket and show that the Indian team is a good test cricket unit and I'm really happy that we've been able to do that. "Even in Sydney we did that but unfortunately we didn't get the result there and we've showed that, in what is regarded as probably the home turf for Australia, that we've been able to beat them here so it's very special. "Now we have to take this confidence to Adelaide and try and level the series."

No fair play and justice in cricket anymore

A number of popular connotations remain attached with the game of cricket since its inception on the international scene. At the very start it was called a ‘royal game’ or the ‘princely game of cricket’ because it was played by the elite of a city, town or a country. The ‘lords’ comprising the team took the field in fancy flannels and silken shirts. With unprecedented expansion and popularity, the game has travelled down from the elite to the street urchins. With the monopoly of two major countries England and Australia on the game having ended and cricket gained international perspective, such a transformation is acceptable. The second quotation that ‘cricket is the game of glorious uncertainties’ is based on the characteristics of the game. It is a fact that one cannot predict the result till the match ends and many matches end on the last ball. Two such matches involving the Pakistan team have already become a part of our cricket history. Javed Miandad’s famous six on the last ball of a match against India at Sharjah that we won and Misbahul Haq’s inability to score two runs on the last four balls in the final of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup that we lost will remain alive in the memory of the cricket lovers. Having proved its truth the quotation is meant to stay for all times to come. One, however, feels sorry to note that the third and the most important quotation that ‘cricket is the game of justice and fair play’ is fading out with the passage of time. It is happening on account of the gradual degeneration of character qualities of the players, umpires and all others involved in the game. The conflicts and controversies during matches and tournaments and disputes of various nature have become an order of the day. The umpiring crisis during the Sydney Test between Australia and India became so acute that the series was almost on the brink of cancellation. The adjudication by the ICC elite panel umpires Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson was downright poor or one may say ‘partial’. Commenting on India’s defeat at the hands of the umpires, India’s manager Chetan Chauhan said: “A lot of decisions have gone against us. Had 50 percent of the decisions been received in our favour, the result would have been different.” I absolutely agree with Chetan Chauhan. I watched the last day’s proceedings ball to ball on the TV. India were well on their way to draw the match when the catastrophe occurred mainly on account of the incompetence of the umpires. The streak of wrong and partial decisions demoralized the Indian batting line thereby ruining their chances of saving the defeat. Australia may be the top cricket team of the world but one thing is sure that they lack the sportsman spirit. A wicketkeeper is the best judge of every ball that he collects, whether edged or not. Adam Gilchrist is not only a senior player but also one of the top wicketkeepers in the game. He should have at least shown the sportsman spirit of telling the umpire that the batsman did not snick the ball. Same was for Andrew Symonds who picked the ball from the ground and claimed the catch. Going back by two decades one finds that the concept of ‘neutral umpires’ emerged for the reason that the local umpires supervising the international matches were not only ‘considered’ incompetent but also partial in helping the home side to win. As per the new system the ICC’s elite panel comprises of the umpires nominated by various cricket boards. They are supposed to be the best among those who supervised matches at home. The only change that the system of neutral umpires has brought is that while deputing them to supervise matches it is ensured that they are alien to the competing teams. Though the factor of advantage to home team is eliminated, providing advantage to the ‘favourite team’ cannot be ruled out. In the case of Sydney Test, the factors of both incompetence and partiality were pretty evident. All said and done, it was the massacre of the spirit of justice and fair play which is the key-stone of the glorious game of cricket. The Indians were inflicted with another serious blow when spinner Harbhajan Singh was banned for three Test matches by match referee Mike Proctor for racism. It was alleged that Harbhajan had an argument with Symonds during which he called him a ‘monkey.’ While Harbhajan denied the charge, the referee awarded the punishment considering the remarks as an offence against Symonds ‘race or ethnic origin’. Perturbed by the storm engulfing them from all directions, the Indian team, not only protested but also threatened to call off the tour. The injustice meted out to the Indian team was badly resented by the cricket lovers back home. In a poll conducted by a leading newspaper, nine out of ten Indians pleaded the team to abandon the tour and return home. In a surprising change of attitude the Indian protest was reckoned by the ICC which axed umpire Steve Bucknor and replaced him with Billy Bowden. A High Court judge from New Zealand who happens to be a member of the ICC code of conduct commission was also appointed to hear Harbhajan Singh’s appeal. To the Indian team’s delight, his punishment will remain suspended till completion of the hearing. Finding the decisions favourable, India have decided to continue the tour. It is heartening that instead of making it a prestige point the ICC has settled the issue amicably which is not only good for cricket but also for the mutual relationship between the cricket-playing countries.

icons tell team to behave

Australia's top sporting greats from games other than cricket have criticised Ricky Ponting and company for behaving arrogantly. They feel that the cricket team's moral compass is getting blurred and it needs to be returned.

"We believe the No 1 rule is to show respect for your fellow competitors and currently this does not appear to be the case. Sport is only sport. It's not war. We believe Australia's Test teams’ moral compass needs to be returned and we want Cricket Australia to know that," Sport Australia's Hall of Fame's chairman John Bertrand told Herald Sun .

Sport Australia Hall of Fame has almost 500 members. To understand what it stands for, it is important to know what Sir Donald Bradman said in his induction speech in 1985.

Sir Donald said, "When considering the stature of an athlete or for that matter any person, I set great store in certain qualities which I believe to be essential in addition to skill. They are that the person conducts his or her life with dignity, with integrity, courage, and perhaps most of all, with modesty. These virtues are totally compatible with pride, ambition, and competitiveness."

Old-timers feel these qualities are now at stake. Bertrand, a sailor who won the America's Cup in 1983, said the organisation would seek an urgent meeting with Cricket Australia this week. "We will be seeking a meeting with Cricket Australia to seek to get the Australian team to readjust their behaviour so that they do show respect for their opponents," he told Herald Sun . He added, "The fallout that we are seeing at the moment is not acceptable. It's clearly damaging international relations and clearly a lot of people are upset."

According to Bertrand, two greats Australian athletes Herb Elliott and Rob de Castella have also expressed their concern about the Aussie Test team. So has Australian Football League legend Ron Barassi.

According to Barassi, Australia should be the world leader in all aspects of the game. "I'm very concerned the word unsportsmanlike is being thrown around in relation to the cricket, and there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. It concerns me that the Australians are regularly being referred to as being arrogant and because it is mentioned so often, you begin to wonder," he was quoted as saying in the newspaper

Gentleman's game

No more, perhaps. "Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game," said an upset Team India skipper Anil Kumble after his team were beaten by Australia in the second Test in Sydney on Sunday. The second Test that was ridden with controversies and bowled by wrong umpiring decisions put the visitors on the backfoot. India spinner Harbhajan Singh has been banned for three Tests for his alleged racist remarks against Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds on Day 3 of the second Test in Sydney. The altercation has not just cast a shadow over India's tour Down Under, but the relationship between the two teams if there was any has soured. Symonds claimed that Harbhajan called him 'a monkey' while the two were involved in a volley of words. Unlike various other team sport, cricket has witnessed fewer incidents of players coming up with intimidating tactics to outplay their opponents. Racial remarks during the game is emerging as a big problem in cricket. It was an Aussie player who was first banned in the history of the game for racial abuse. It all started in 2002-2003 cricket series, when Darren Lehmann of Australia was suspended for five One-dayers over a racial remark in the earshot of the Sri Lankan dressing room. Then during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, Aussie wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist accused Pakistan's then man in gloves Rashid Latif of racial abuse. But due to lack of evidence, Latif was let off. And now the axe has fallen on the Indian cricket team, as the Turbanator has been banned for three Tests after the ICC Match Referee Mike Procter upheld the Aussie charge that he had racially abused Symonds. Although the off-spinner got complete support from the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and the team, all went in vain. In fact, the Indians also lodged a complaint against Aussie spinner Brad Hogg for using abusive language during the second Test. Harbhajan refuted the allegations of making racial remarks against the Aussie all-rounder. It is to be noted that Symonds has been involved in a couple of incidents with Indian players and spectators during Australia's tour of India in October, 2007. In the One-dayer played in Baroda and the Twenty20 match in Mumbai, he claimed to have been racially abused with 'monkey chants'. There have also been reports, that during the series, Symonds was involved in verbal spats with pacer S Sreesanth and Harbhajan. Keeping this in mind, there is a possibility that Harbhajan has been a victim of false allegations of racial abuse, it could have been just an on-field banter between the two players during the second Test. The BCCI has protested against the ban imposed on the spinner, and has decided to lodge an appeal with the ICC's legal counsel. And agitated India, that is totally against racism, is hoping that their very own 'Bhajji' gets respite from the controversial ban. In a nation where cricket is religiously followed, the unfortunate turn of events have hurt the sentiments of the Indians. With such unhealthy incidents the gentleman's game might soon turn out to be a war pitch for vandals. 'May the best team win' that plays with true sportsman spirit. Not only the players, but the spectators have been hurling racist remarks rather than hooting for their home-team. With such nasty incidents hanging over the cricket pitch it looks like the game is now no longer played in the right spirit. If this continues, cricket will be no more remembered as a gentleman's game.