History repeats itself as the Aussies fall back on the Earth

When India was playing in the second test against Australia at Kolkata in February, 2001 they were in a big mess. Sourav Ganguly's men had been thrashed by the Steve Waugh led Aussie "invincibles" in less than 4 days in the first test at Mumbai. The Australian team had won a world record 16 consecutive tests till then, the previous record being 11 by the West Indies. Australia played well in the first innings until Harbhajan Singh turned the tide with the first ever hat-trick by an Indian in test cricket. But, in the second innings India was bowled out for under 150, thus following on with only V.V.S. Laxman scoring a gritty half century. What followed was a dream as Laxman scored a magnificent 281 (the highest individual score by an Indian in test cricket at that time) in the second innings and put up a huge partnership with Rahul Dravid who scored a determined 180 to set the Aussies a huge target. The Aussies crumbled to the brilliant bowling display by Harbhajan and Sachin Tendulkar (who scored only 10 runs in both the innings while batting). This ended Australia's winning streak and the Aussies also lost the third test at Chennai handing India the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India beat Australia twice in tests after that- at Adelaide in 2003 (another wonderful game) and at Mumbai in 2004, where the Aussies were bowled out for a paltry 93! Other than these two losses, the Aussies lost to the West Indies in 2003 (when the Windies succesfully chase down a mammoth 418 which is the highest target ever chased successfully) and twice to England in 2005 (thus handing over the Ashes to England after a very long time). But, the last for losses mentioned all took place away from home which shows that if there is any country that can beat Australia at home, it surely is India.

When the Border-Gavaskar Series started with the Boxing Day test at Melbourne a month back, India was outplayed. The second test at Sydney, however, was a different story altogether. The match was evenly contested but was drowned in controversy over dubious umpiring decisions, the racism issue and unsportsmanlike behaviour by Ricky Ponting's men. After the brouhaha at Sydney, the Indian team had two options- to cancel the series and go back home; or to stay back and fight the Aussies with all their effort, they decided to stay. The first two days of the third test at Perth completely belonged to India, who outplayed the Aussies in every department. The Indian bowlers used the famous Perth pitch better than their Aussie counterparts. The much hyped Shaun Tait was a disaster for the mighty Australians as he wasn't even able to take a single wicket in the match.

The third day's play had its moments. Sehwag continued his assault on the hapless Aussie quickies until he was done in by a brilliant delivery by Stuart Clark which shattered the stumps. The triad of Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly fell in quick succession putting India in a spot of bother. Ganguly scored his first duck in about 10 tests as India were 5 down for 150 odd rus. Irfan Pathan who had come in as the Night Watchman hung in for a while and contributed a good 46 runs. He played some wonderful strokes and may well be India's missing link in the middle order. After Pathan's fall, Laxman and Dhoni had a crucial partnership. Dhoni played a good innings of 37 under pressure, he was also succesful in clearing the ropes twice. He fell to Symonds when he miscued a sweep with Gilchrist completing a fine catch. Laxman played wonderfully to be the top scorer with 79. His partnership of 52 for the 9th wicket with the unusually calm R.P. Singh helped India score 294, setting Australia a target of 413. Singh scored a good 30 runs and even cleared the ropes once! Stuart Clark was the best Aussie bowler picking 4/66.

Coming to facts and figures regarding chases, the highest successful run chase on Australian soil is 369, when Australia chased down the score against Pakistan at Hobart in 1999. Only thrice in the history of test cricket has a team chased down 400+ runs in the fourth innings- Australia did in the late 1940s against England, India did it in 1974 against Wet Indies and the West Indies chased down a world record 418 against Australia in 2003. Also, the highest fourth innings score at Perth is 341.

At the end of the third day's play, Australia was 62/2 with Ponting and Hussey on strike. The openers were done in by Pathan in the second innings too. Kumble was able to extract spin as well as bounce on a pitch that was slowly getting dangerous for the batsmen. The match had been a wonderful one until that moment and the only result that could be ruled out was a draw. If India won from that position, they would halt the Aussie winning streak at 1 again and become the first team to beat Australia in 3 years and the first team to do so on Australian soil in 5 years (the last team to do so was also India). Also, it would be the first instance of a sub-continent team winning at Perth. If Australia won, they would create a new world record of 17 consecutive wins and would have the second highest succesful run chase in tests to their name.


The fourth day's first session was an extremely interesting one as one saw a brilliant spell of fast bowling from 19 year old Ishant Sharma, who troubled Ponting as if he was one of the best fast bowlers in the world. Ponting appeared extremely uncomfortable facing Ishant and was finally done in by him an over before lunch. That was the only wicket to fall in the first session, but was a big wicket. Ponting scored 45. It was Sehwag who convinced Kumble to let ishant bowl an extra over and he struck immediately. After lunch, R.P. Singh bowled a brilliant ball moving into the left handed Hussey and trapped him in front for 46. Symonds hit Kumble out of the ground but was given LBW to the same bowler in the next ball. Replays showed that the ball had nicked the bat before hitting the pad and Symonds showed his displeasure, but I personally feel that justice was done. Symonds, after all he was the player who wasn't given out when he was 4 times in the Sydney test and also got a wicket which he didn't deserve to have. Kumble, surprisingly, celebrated a lot more than he usually does on getting Symonds wicket. I think that it was in response to Symonds doing the same when he got Kumble's wicket in India's second innings.


Michael Clarke was playing his shots very well and when Gilchrist came in after Symonds, one thought that the fireworks would soon begin. Just then, Kumble decided to give the ball to Sehwag who struck twice in quick succession. Firstly, he bowled Gilchrist round his legs for 15 and got the better of Brett Lee for a duck. Then, Kumble bowled a wonderful delivery which both spun and bounced. Clarke came forward to the ball but was completely bamboozled by this delivery and Dhoni promptly stumped him. Clarke scored a fine 81, which I feel was his coming of age knock. With the fall of Clarke, no recognized Australian batsman was left with the Aussies being 253/8. The tail enders, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark frustrated the Indians with a 9th wicket partnership of 73. Clark scored 32 and even hit a six during his knock. Irfan Pathan got the wicket of Clark and the Indians could sniff victory. Johnson continued to frustrate the Indians and scored his first half century. He hit Kumble for 2 huge sixes. However, he did have two reprieves when Kumble bowled him off a no-ball and Sehwag dropped him near the boundary. The catch was a very tough one and Kumble was the unlucky bowler this time too. When the Aussies were 340/9, R.P. Singh breached Shaun Tait's defences and gave India a well desrved victory. Australia was halted by India while going for the 17th win yet again as history repeated itself. I would give most credit to the brilliant bowling by the Indian fast bowlers, who for long haven't shown their skills. Irfan Pathan got the man of the match award for his all round performance. The comeback of Pathan and Sehwag played a big role in India winning the match.

The Indian team has proved to everyone that they made the right decision by staying back after the Sydney test. Many people in the world will now consider India as the main challenger to Australia's supremacy in the game. It was wonderful to see the smirk disappear from Ponting's face and also to see him struggling to play young Ishant Sharma. The Autralians have also been charged 10% of their match fee for their slow over rate. But the loss of the match will probably sting them more than the loss on the pocket. Heres hoping that India carries forward their form into the fourth test at Adelaide, where they won last time round in 2003. Till then, HAPPY PERTH DAY!!!!


Some wonderful quotes during the course of and after the Perth test:

• "That's another appeal. No it's not, it's a replay."
  The excitement at the WACA gets a bit too much for Michael Slater.
  
• "Ek aur over karega?"
  Anil Kumble asks Ishant Sharma if he'll bowl one more over after having bowled seven. Ishant did and got the wicket of Ricky Ponting on the first ball. It was Virender Sehwag who asked Kumble to let Ishant bowl.
  
• "It would have been great if you had been my 600th victim."
  Anil Kumble to Adam Gilchrist when the latter congratulated him on his feat.

How Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson contributed to the cause of making Cricket an "un-gentlemanly" game

I must say that I wasn't amused by the habit of blogging which many netizens possess and as I write quite a lot I was repeatedly advised by friends and well-wishers to start blogging but I hardly paid heed to them. I just made an account and left it at that. Over the past year I always had a passing thought to actually begin blogging- if not for myself than for others, but something more important always came in my way. After more than a year of procrastinating I finally decided to start blogging. And the reason was my obsession with the game of Cricket (I like it so much that I have made it a proper noun!)

My day began on a sour note personally and to forget my own problems I decided to watch the last day's play of the 2nd Test Match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Now, for those who don't know- the Border-Gavaskar trophy is the Test Series played between India and Australia and on this occasion India is touring Australia. The first 4 days of the test match have had their moments but what I will remember this Test Match for is for the rather (in)famous umpiring controversy due to some atrocious umpiring by Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson.

Now, lets look into each issue in detail:
Issue 1) Ricky Ponting edged a ball bowled by Sourav Ganguly and was caught by wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he was batting on 17 in the first innings. Given not out. Ponting went on to score 55. The decision was made by Mark Benson.

Issue 2) Ponting adjudged LBW to Harbhajan Singh when on 55. He clearly had an inside edge before the ball hit the pads. But that sort of made up for the earlier decision. This decision too was made by Mark Benson.

Issue 3) Andrew Symonds edged a ball to Ishant Sharma and was caught behind when he was on 30. Not given out by Steve Bucknor. Went on to make 162 not out- an expensive mistake.

Issue 4) Symonds was out stumped when he was batting on 48. Not given out by the third umpire. (Can you believe this? The Third Umpire goofs it up!)

Issue 5) Symonds was stumped again in the same innings but umpire Bucknor did not even care to refer it to the Third Umpire!

Issue 6) In India's crucial second innings, Dravid was given caught behind where the ball clearly went off his pad. Bucknor adjudged him out.

Issue 7) An edge off Ganguly's bat went to Michael Clarke. There was a doubt in umpire Benson's mind whether the catch was taken cleanly. Rather than consulting the Square Leg Umpire or the Third Umpire, he consulted Ricky Ponting. Why did he have to do that? Isn't it obvious that Ponting would say that it is out as Sourav Ganguly was the main obstacle in Australia's attempt to win the game?

This match also showed to what extent Team Australia can go to achieve their ends. Ricky Ponting had always seemed an arrogant man to me and I must agree to the famous saying- "Looks can be deceptive" But my feelings were limited to Ponting, Hogg, Johnson and Symonds. I never expected the entire team to be nothing but a bunch of cheats who can do absolutely anything to cling on to their "World Champion" tag! The very credibility of Team Australia is in doubt now. When Rahul Dravid got out, it was Adam Gilchrist who had claimed the catch. A few years back when Gilchrist was given not out when he was actually out, Gilchrist walked out of the ground saying that his conscience wouldn't have allowed him to continue batting as he would have been nagged by the fact that he was actually out. That decision by him, made many cricket lovers like me respect the man. After the batsman, it probably is the keeper who knows whether the ball actually nicked the bat or not and for a person of Gilchrist's stature claiming the catch while knowing the truth is shocking, especially after "walking" when he was sure of himself being out!

Then comes the instance of Michael Clarke claiming Ganguly's catch. It may be doubtful whether the ball bounced before coming to him or not but he wasn't in "complete control" of the ball after claiming the catch as the ball was clearly touching the ground! Ponting too unsuccessfully tried to claim a similar catch off Dhoni as the "complete control" definition came into view.

How can I miss making a comment on Man of the Match Andrew Symonds, who probably was the most fortunate man in the game after being given not out on three occasions when he was actually out and also taking Dravid's wicket in India's second innings, which by now we all know wasn't actually out. On the third day's play he complained to the Match Referee that Harbhajan Singh had "racially abused" him. And as I type news comes in that Harbhajan has been banned for 3 Tests for this very reason. I find it very difficult to judge the credibility of this complaint after all the above events. I feel this is nothing but a "mind game" by the Australians to remove Harbhajan from the attack. The press had reported that none of the umpires on the field had heard any abusing and even then Harbhajan is punished! What proof did the Australian's have? Can't they present it to the outside world to give us a clearer picture?

The unfortunate incidents in this test match have pained an entire nation where Cricket is an obsession and has a religious cult-like following! At the end of the day Cricket is the loser. I am deeply pained by this horrendous showing of favours by the umpires to the Australians thus proving that Cricket is not a "Gentleman's Game" anymore.

To sum it all up, I would quote what the Indian captain Anil Kumble said about the outcome of the match- "Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game, that's all I can say"

Other notable quotes after the match include-

• "Batsmen usually say to each other 'you take care of this bowler etc'. [In] this match the Indians might have to say 'you take care of Bucknor, I will take care of Benson'."
  Ian Chappell on commentary during the final day of the Sydney Test following two doubtful decisions that went against India.
• "If Steve Bucknor walks the streets of Mumbai, he won't be alive for more than an hour."
  A comment on a TV debate in India in the aftermath of the Sydney Test. The remark received warm applause.
• "This has been going on in all countries for many years and it's only happening against India and has only been exposed because of TV. There were 12 decisions when we were batting and 12 when we were bowling."
  A balanced view on world cricket from an expert on the same show.
• "Umpiring standards have gone down in this match, particularly in Bucknor's case. He is losing his vision and hearing as shown by some of his decisions. I suggest there should be a fitness test for umpires as well."
  Former Indian Test Cricketer Syed Kirmani.
• "Sorry I think you have got something wrong. There's no way that I would have grounded that ball and I think if you are actually questioning my integrity in the game, you should not be standing here. What I did in the first innings doesn't that explain the way I play the game. Well okay I am 100 per cent sure of that catch of Dhoni today. As it turned out wasn't that given not out. Am I right or wrong?"
  Australian skipper Ricky Ponting reacting angrily when asked by Indian reporter if he had cleanly caught Mahendra Singh Dhoni off the bowling of Brad Hogg. A ridiculous comment in my opinion.
• "When you pick up a pack of Benson & Hedges you get a statutory warning: 'Smoking cigarettes is injurious to health.' From this day on, the firm of Benson & Bucknor may well have to come with some sort of warning. It's a shame when you have to spend more time talking about the umpiring than the wickets taken or the runs scored, but when the errors umpires make play a big role in deciding the course of a game, there's little choice."
  Cricinfo's cricket expert Anand Vasu in his post match bulletin.
• "The umpires on the field are supposed to be neutral."
  Colin Croft starts 2008 with a controversial and ill thought-out on-air comment.
• "How can the third umpire not see that? He's not got anything to do other than watch TV!"
  Sky TV's Charles Colvile offers a blunt take on the third umpire's decision to rule Andrew Symonds not out on a stumping referral.
• "I was out when I was 30 - given not out. I can sit here and tell you about some bad decisions as well, but I won't. That's the game."
  Andrew Symonds tells it like it is about what went down on day one of the SCG Test.
• "It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport ... It was a rotten contest that singularly failed to elevate the spirit."
  Peter Roebuck delivers his verdict on the second Australia-India Test in the Sydney Morning Herald.
  

Check out the links below for more on this issue-

• Kumble questions Australia's spirit.
• Australia's attitude lacking in appeal.