Yet another stupid act by the BCCI

It has just been a day since India won the hard fought Perth test and the BCCI is back at doing what it does best- experimenting. The moment I heard that Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid had been left out of the Indian ODI squad for the tri-series involving them, Australia and Sri Lanka, I was shocked. Moreover, they also decided to leave out Murali Kartik from the squad and didn't even bother recalling V.V.S. Laxman. This, in my opinion is a big selection blunder that has been committed by the BCCI. Their alibi is that they want a youthful team that is energetic and consists of good fielders. I agree, that Ganguly hasn't been a remarkable fielder but what about Dravid? Isn't he a good fielder? Another important mistake is not picking Murali Kartik who spun India to victory against Australia by taking 6 wickets in the 7th ODI against Australia at Mumbai last October.


Dravid didn't play the 7th ODI against Australia and was left out of the ODI squad for the series against Pakistan as well. Though Dravid has a slow scoring rate, he isn't called Mr. Dependable for nothing. On the other hand, Ganguly was India's most successful ODI batsman last year scoring 1240 runs with an average of 45. He also took 7 wickets to go with his wonderful batting. He performed very well after making a comeback and was very good in England. He also played well against the Aussies when they toured India. He also had six partnerships of 100+ for the first wicket with Sachin Tendulkar in ODIS in 2007. The two also happen to be the most successful opening pair in ODI history. Ganguly will be really missed in the games against Sri Lanka as he has a brilliant record against them and is regarded by most cricket experts as the batsman who can play ace Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan the best. His wonderful knock of 183 against the Lankans at Taunton during the 1999 World Cup is regarded as one of the best knocks in ODI history. Incidentally, it was Dravid who was involved with a huge 318 run partnership for the 2nd wicket with Ganguly. Dravid scored a masterly 145 and both of them shared the man of the match award. The partnership between them was the first 300+ partneship in ODI history and was quite obviously the highest partnership for any wicket in ODIs at that time, a record which was broken at Hyderabad 6 months later when Tendulkar and Dravid put on 331 for the 2nd wicket against New Zealand. Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 186, the highest individual score by an Indian batsman (the record was held by Ganguly before this, when he scored 183 in the match mentioned before this) and Dravid stroked a classy 153. It really is surprising to see a player like Ganguly dropped when he is in such good form! The last time India played a ODI series in Australia was in early 2004, Laxman had scored 3 brilliant hundreds- 2 against Australia and 1 against Zimbabwe.

Coming in for Ganguly is Suresh Raina, who last played an ODI in January 2007. He doesn't have a very impressive record against Australia but is a good fielder. Piyush Chawla, who was impressive on last year's tour of England, gets the nod for the second spinner's spot ahead of Murali Kartik. Chawla was preferred because the selectors were of the opinion that a wrist-spinner would be handy on Australian pitches. It is believed that the captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, wanted to stick with a majority of the squad that won the inaugral ICC World Twenty20 last September. Explaining why Ganguly was overlooked, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said, "The emphasis was on fielding abilities and they (the team management) wanted a young fielding side for the series. That's why you see a lot of youngsters in the side." Well Mr. Shah, if you wanted a good fielder why not take Mohd. Kaif, he is also from the Uttar Pradesh Ranji team like Raina and is a brilliant fielder (probably one of the best in the world)? In fact, Kaif is the captain of the team and has played quite well in the domestic circuit.

India's fast-bowling attack will be led by R.P. Singh, Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth, who missed the Test series against Australia with a shoulder injury. Joining them will be Praveen Kumar, who played a ODI in the series against Pakistan. Zaheer Khan hasn't been considered as he is still recovering from the heel injury he got during the first test at Melbourne. The BCCI plans to send him to South Africa for treatment. Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik have also been included. Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan and Munaf have been placed on standby and will join the squad in case of any injuries.

I also feel that the BCCI made a big mistake by announcing the squad for the sole Twenty20 and the tri-series before the fourth test at Adelaide. It may divide the team and disturb the players a lot. News channel sources say that Ganguly and Dravid are highly disappointed at them being left out of the ODI team. Dravid was hoping to make the cut after having played well at Perth and Ganguly was reportedly shocked about the entire incident as he had a wonderful 2007. These 2 players need to keep their cool at Adelaide as they have a big role to play if India are to level the test series.

Chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar is under fire from many quarters after what I would call an extremely stupid decision. In fact, Navjot Singh Sidhu challenged Vengsarkar on NDTV's cricket talk show "Cricket Controversies". He said that if Vengsarkar can prove Ganguly's exclusion then he (Sidhu) would stop doing whatever he does to earn money. He also said that Raina's experience was nothing compared to Ganguly's and that if India has managed to survive in Australia, it is all because of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman. He went on to say that dropping a player who scored 1200 odd runs in a calendar year amounts to sacrilege as it would not only affect the player psychologically but will also divide the team. It didn't there, Sidhu later said that the selectors didn't know how to treat its heroes. All this shows just how foolish the selectors have been. What needs to be seen is what they can do to counter this outcry.

Given below is the squad for the sole Twenty20 and the CB tri-series:

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain and Wicket Keeper)
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Yuvraj Singh
• Virender Sehwag
• Dinesh Karthik
• Robin Uthappa
• Gautam Gambhir
• Suresh Raina
• Rohit Sharma
• Irfan Pathan
• Praveen Kumar
• Ishant Sharma
• S. Sreesanth
• Harbhajan Singh
• Piyush Chawla
  

Standby:

• Manoj Tiwary
• Yusuf Pathan
• Munaf Patel

A Question of Integrity, Arrogance and Racial Slurs

It has been about two days since the events at the Sydney Cricket Ground and there is still a lot of speculation surrounding the issue of India being "cheated" of a fair result. The inquiry into Symond's complaint about Harbhajan racially abusing him has a rather weird result- Harbhajan being banned for 3 Tests. Now, you may think why I am calling this "weird" and not "unfair", "shocking" or something more intense. It is just that there are a lot of loopholes in this verdict. It may actually be fair to call this entire affair "unfair"! But instead of doing that, I would like to bring forth some facts regarding the case.

According to Symonds, Harbhajan apparently hit Brett Lee during the course of his partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. Symonds couldn't take this and hit out at Harbhajan who allegedly called Symonds a "monkey". Now, the umpires had not heard anything (which is quite obvious as they couldn't even hear the ball hitting the bat!) and the ICC Match Referee, Mike Procter too didn't hear a word. Moreover, there wasn't any proof- be it audio or video and all that was relied upon by Procter to make this decision was the collective witness account delivered by Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Mathew Hayden. Sachin Tendulkar wasn't even asked for a witness account throughout the inquiry which lasted four gruelling hours. As Navjot Singh Sidhu pointed out on a news channel, not listening to a person of Tendulkar's stature, one who has played the game with dignity for 18 years and instead accepting Clarke's word is utter nonsense! Clarke is literally a baby if you compare him to Tendulkar in terms of experience and his integrity too is in doubt after the incident regarding Ganguly's dismissal during the last day's play. His arrogance is just like his captain Ponting, while Ponting keeps saying that the match was played in the right spirit, Clarke still believes that he took Ganguly's catch cleanly, as if the videos are lying!

With the overwhelming support for the Indian Cricket Team even by the Australian public, it will be interesting to note where the issue goes from here. In the polls conducted by Australian newspapers a majority of the Aussies feel that the umpires gave India a raw deal and that the Australian team isn't a bunch of sports. Also, most of them feel that Ponting isn't a good ambassador for the game. Peter Roebuck, who is probably the most respected and celebrated cricket
writer in the world too gave some really harsh comments about Ponting's captaincy and even went on to say that he should be sacked! He wrote, "In the past few days Ponting has presided over a performance that dragged the game into the pits. He turned a group of professional cricketers into a pack of wild dogs. As much can be told from the conduct of his closest allies in the team. As usual, Matthew Hayden crossed himself upon reaching three figures in his commanding second innings, a gesture he does not perform while wearing the colours of his state. Exactly how he combines his faith with throwing his weight around on the field has long bemused opposing sides, whose fondness for him ran out a long time ago." He also went on to write, "Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not packed their bags and gone home. There is no justice for them in this country, nor any manners."

India in return has filed a charge of abuse against Aussie spinner Brad Hogg, who allegedly used foul language on Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the course of the match. Also, the ICC has removed Bucknor as the umpire of the 3rd Test and has replaced him with Billy Bowden. India has also filed an appeal against the decision taken on Harbhajan Singh.

Personally, one thing that I won't forget about the television coverage of the match is Sunil Gavaskar's commentary for Star Cricket. Given below are the Youtube links for the comments made by him-

• Gavaskar furious about Ganguly's dismissal.
• Gavaskar commenting on Ricky Ponting's on-field actions.

Someone on BBC's Cricket Blog wrote this comic news headline when Bucknor was removed as the umpire for the 3rd Test at Perth-

Bucknor out, Hayden doubtful for Perth.

An Australian side, which is already suffering from the non-availability of key player Mark Benson got another setback today, when star all-rounder Steve Bucknor got banned by the ICC. His partnership with super hero Andrew Symonds and Tricky Ponting has been the foundation of the glorious Australian win. When left handed opener Matthew Hayden got injured, that became a minor concern for Tricky, who can't believe the decision of the ICC to ban his Star All-rounder. Tricky will also have to deal with Harbhajan Singh, who showed the whole world that Tricky has no idea about playing quality spin, and therefore can never be considered in the same class of King Brian Charles Lara or the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar.

I loved the way he presented his comments. Funny and at the same time conveying how much the umpires helped the Australian cause. Some people actually say that Benson and Bucknor were competing with each other to give favours to Australia! It would also be notable to add that 63% of the readers of the Sydney Morning Herald agreed with Peter Roebuck's stance about Ponting being sacked as captain of the Australian Cricket Team. Now, its time to wait and see the spirit in which the next Test is played.

Have a look at the links below for an insight into the farcical affair-

• Peter Roebuck- "Arrogant Ponting must be fired"
• Geoff Lawson- " Aussies disrespecting baggy green"
• Hogg charged by ICC
• Wasim Akram- Australians hypocrites, cry babies
• "Open your eyes, Ricky"
• ESPN Star Cricket Hard Talk- Boria Majumdar
• "ICC 'soften' up after England back India on umpiring issue"
• Michael Epis- "Why Ponting's heroes just don't appeal to me"