I have already stated in my blog two days ago and by way of comments on numerous other blogs that the act by Randiv was not right! I don't know about the Spirit of Cricket (no one really knows, but everyone wants to pretend they know)... but it certainly left a sour taste at the end of the match. The match should have been remembered for India's win with more than 15 overs to spare... not for Sehwag's almost-century.
Coming back to the point... the suspension and the fines is too much! Well, Sri Lanka Cricket says that they are proud recipients of ICC's Spirit of Cricket award for two years in a row and that's why they came down hard on this issue. But in their minds, the Sri Lankan officials should know that this was way too hard!
The matter, in my opinion, should have ended with Randiv's apology to Sehwag! Maybe the captain / coach / manager / match referee / Board official should have had a quiet word with Randiv thereafter. At the most, the Board should have given him a slap on the wrist. A one-match suspension is way too much!
I mean, Simon Taufel was not suspended when he gave Sachin Tendulkar out LBW on 99 to a Paul Collingwood delivery that would have missed the off-stump quite easily! He later apologised to Tendulkar, and both got along with it. It was the same with Rudi Koertzen and Kumar Sangakkara when the latter was wrongly adjudged to have edged the ball when on 192. Then why should it be different now?
True, the umpires were not deliberately trying to deny the batsmen their landmarks... but they still did make wrong decisions that did or could have influenced the result of the match. Allow me to insert here that Steve Bucknor was punished for an entire collection of mistakes... not just one! So please do not bring on that angle of the argument over here in this issue.
Back to the point now... it is a sad and a sorry state that Sri Lanka Cricket resorted to acting against their player in a move that seems quite evidently an act to appease the BCCI. I doubt a stronger Board would have taken such an action!
3 comments:
i agree that the issue has been over reacted upon
but i feel the analogy with umpires is simply illogical
ali
Shridhar,even though I totally agree that the action taken is totally over the top,but still the comparison you have made between Simon Taufel and Rudi Koertzen with Randhiv isn't right.Because umpires made a genuine mistake,while Randhiv did it on purpose.
Hi Ali... good to see u on the blog! And hi again, Mayank!
I know both of you are not satisfied with the comparison to Rudi and Simon. But both of u also agree that this issue has been blown out of proportions.
I brought up the analogy with the umpires only because theirs were also cases of mistakes as the batsmen were nearing personal landmarks. And their mistakes affected / could have affected the state of the match as well.
Randiv also made a mistake, but it did not affect the state of the match. The only difference with his mistake was, as you've pointed out Mayank, was that it was intentional.
But is it so big as it is being made out? That was the point I was trying to make...
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