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I have no idea about when the spot-fixing scandal broke out. In fact, I have not been in too much touch with cricket lately. I have been keeping up with the scores and updates... but I did not have any clue about this piece of news.
The two pieces of cricket that I did witness was the package of Mohammed Aamer's 6 wickets at Lord's and India's attempt to chase 300 in the finals against Sri Lanka at Dambulla. It was quite a bit of a shock to me to hear the names of Aamer and Salman Butt right in the centre of this spot-fixing controversy.
This is sad... really sad for cricket and the way forward for Pakistan's cricket looks extremely bleak to me. Just when I thought that they were recovering from the Shahid Afridi's I-Can't-Play-Test-Cricket scandal, another bolt strikes. Installing Salman Butt as the captain seemed to be a very good move to me... but sadly, it might well backfire.
Salman Butt's test captaincy record is not too bad - 2 wins and 3 losses in 5 games... with the wins coming against the top sides in international cricket... and all the matches played on difficult foreign conditions. But the spot-fixing controversy has ensured that none of that will be looked into when the PCB sits for its next meeting on corruption in their cricket!
The world may not be shocked or even surprised by this latest outbreak of corruption allegations... but it is certainly saddened. Cricket does not need any of this!
Not that I haven't seen him do it in the past, but it still is a weird sight to see Virendra Sehwag get to his century with a tame tap square on the offside for a single against a finger spinner.
But it doesn't matter! Well played, Sehwag and congratulations on your 13th ODI Century (finally) at Dambulla against New Zealand!
India's One Day team has put up another horrible performance in Dambulla. There are cries that I hear about poor umpiring. Granted, the umpiring was poor... but the only ones who lost out due to that kind of umpiring were Sehwag and Yuvraj.
Sehwag is in top form and will feel genuinely disappointed at being given out on a ball where most Elite Panel umpires would kept have fingers to themselves. Yuvraj, on the other hand, was getting some very valuable practice in match conditions in a lost cause... but considering that he has been in a very bad form and really needed that practice, he will feel wronged on being cut short by an Asad-Rauf-howler.
Well, as for Dinesh Karthik... the decision may have been wrong, but the umpire just reduced the suffering for Dinesh Karthik and the Indian fans. That guy has now had more than enough opportunities. How he manages to maintain his place as the first replacement to a top-order batsmen with just 20s and rare 30s is beyond my understanding (actually not, it's obviously the Cheeka factor)! And Suresh Raina just had to shrug off his piece of bad luck after having encountered good luck just a few moments before.
And there is no excuse for Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. Rohit Sharma frustrates an Indian fan like very few others can... he is so obviously full of unconverted talent! I now fully appreciate the angst of a Bangladesh cricketer over the case of Mohammed Ashraful. In fact, I have a feeling that even I can get Sharma's wicket on my bowling. The only thing I do well is bowl those gentle dibbly-dobbly off-cutters... but then, that is how Rohit Sharma gets out! I can keep bowling those in the knowledge that very soon Sharma will get his front leg across and I will catch him plumb in front!
And MS Dhoni... the skipper! I have always been of the opinion that he is a master of mediocre attacks and mediocre conditions. Once in a while he may come up with a truly astounding performance in a pressure situation... but those occasions are very rare now... and have happened more often for Chennai Super Kings than Team India in 2010. If Dhoni really wanted to play a captain's knock today, he'd play himself higher and not wait till 4 wickets are down to finally show his presence.
But I am still not worried about India's batting scene... because with the entry of Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir, not only will a lot of stability be instilled in the team... but also the frustrating figures of Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik will vanish! And considering that the World Cup is in the sub-continent, Dhoni will not be very troubled either...
Now, this is how a ground should be covered!
Shahid Afridi has won the toss and decided to that Pakistan will bat first against India at Dambulla in the 4th match of the Asia Cup 2010.
There's hardly been a build - up to this match... the FIFA World Cup is grabbing all the media bytes. Rooney's words into the camera are being shown more often than Dhoni practicing in the nets on news channels. It's weird.
It's extremely weird to see a cricket crazy nation get so engrossed in a Footbal World Cup (in which the only participants from India are performers in the Opening Ceremony and one of the sponsorers) that they seem the least interested in a India - Pakistan cricket match. In fact, I have even come across a few who did not know that India was to play Pakistan today till they saw the newspapers do a preview today.
And there were another kind: those who didn't know that India is currently playing in a cricket tournament! What on earth is wrong! India's performance in recent times has not been too inspiring... but when Indians do not know or are uninterested in following an Ind - Pak cricket match, something is definitely wrong!
A win here for India will get a few more fans to support the team... and a few more eyeballs into cricket. Considering that there have been a few upsets at FIFA World Cup and some of the favourite teams like England, Spain and France are struggling to qualify for the Pre - Quarterfinals, this might be the best chance for cricket to cash in!
As Kumar Sangakkara wins the toss and decides that Sri Lanka will bat first against Pakistan at Dambulla, the Asia Cup 2010 commences.
A tournament that is held to fill up the extremely thin gaps in the international itineraries of the Asian teams... it used to feature the smaller teams like UAE and Hong Kong also in the past. Their absence this year really raises the question that is this really 'Asia' cup?
True, these four are the strongest teams in cricket in Asia. True, there are only three genuine contendors in an Asia Cup... no matter how many nations participate. However, the objective of the Asian Cricket Council is to promote the game in the region... or so I presume. If such opportunities to make the smaller teams take on the bigger ones are going to be ignored, then how is the game going to prosper?
We have seen some encouraging performances by countries like Afghanistan in the recent future. We also saw that their weakness was against fast and pacy bowling... whereas their bowlers are good enough to hold the best of sides on their day. These problems can be sorted out by allowing these sides more exposure at the highest level. With all the teams sending out their strongest or near-to-strongest squads for the tournament, this would have been the ideal opportunity to groom the smaller sides of the Asian continent.
I am disappointed with the ACC... and since I expect this series also to be decided by the outcome of the toss, I am hardly interested. It is a different matter altogether that the FIFA World Cup and Wimbledon provide pleasant distractions!
