Monday, January 07, 2008

Stop playing with cheats

The outrage Indian media is displaying after our cricket team was robbed of a test win in Sydney and, more importantly, after Harbhajan Singh was declared a racial offender is understandable. But I think it is misplaced. The rage should be directed at BCCI.
If the BCCI had men who cared about the country's pride, such things would have never happened more than once. This is a recurring theme, as far as Indian cricket is concerned. In my opinion, the media is flogging the wrong horse. It's ire should be directed at BCCI, which has till date done precious little for cricket and cricketers in the country, except thinking of ways to fill its coffers.
Some assumed that this was the case with just Jagmohan Dalmiya, who had a way with getting any deal done, as long as BCCI made money but could not get justice for Indian cricketers when they got kicked around routinely. Remember Mike Dennis and the excess appealing-ball tampering controversy? After all the sound and fury, Sehwag had to undergo the match suspension for excess appealing and Sachin Tendulkar's name was never cleared of ball tampering. BCCI will do some play-acting but will do nothing that will cost it a penny, even this time.
I, for one, believe that Harbhajan Singh, or any other cricketer, should be banned for life if he behaves racially. But there should be a fair trial before 'hanging' the cricketer. The match referee should have incontrovertible evidence to prove that the crime was committed. The golden rule of law is that someone is innocent until proven guilty. There was nothing with Mike Procter, the match referee, to suggest that Harbhajan was guilty, except for the claim by Andrew Symmonds and his colleagues. The umpires said they did not hear any (given Bucknor's and Benson's track record, it is unlikely they would hear anything) slur uttered by Harbhajan. And the Indian camp stands by Harbhajan's claim that he had not made any racial remark. So, how can the match referee hand him down a 3-match suspension?
It's not the 3-match suspension that matters. Harbhajan may miss more tests because of fitness problems in future. Here, he is being accused of being racist. So, if the Indian players have the conviction that Harbhajan is innocent, they should refuse to play anymore in Australia unless the ban is revoked.
BCCI should have the gumption to ask its cricketers to return home. Reneging from the contract will cost money. But it's time BCCI realised that there is more to cricket than just money.
BCCI is stuffed with the best politicians in the world. One of them can convincingly argue to make a hero out of a criminal accused of genocide; another, who heads the body, had gone to the extend of walking out of his party and forming his own Nationalist Party because he could not withstand the 'shame of being governed by a foreign-born Prime Minister'. But when he was literally pushed around by Ricky Ponting, he just stood there and grinned. How do we tell such persons there is something called HONOUR?

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home