India just lost the 3rd test to South Africa. The proteas have one bad day on the 1st day of the 1st test and they lost it. Similarly we had one bad day on the 4th day of the 3rd test and we lost it. Overall a very well fought series considering that we expected almost nothing after the one-day drubbing.
But I want to write about something that is more generic in nature affcecting Indians and possibly other asian countries getting a raw deal on many departments of cricket and its administration.
1. We never play 5 match test series: I don't really get this. I know Australia vs England are always 5 match series. The Aussies vs Windies are also 5 match series. But how come the rest of the world does not play 5 match series? Statistically speaking this has quite an impact on records. For e.g. Sachin Tendulkar made his test debut a good 4-5 years before Glenn McGrath did. Yet, at the time of McGraths retirement Sachin had played only 11 tests more than him!
2. Umpires are not equally fair: This may be a very generic statement, but this is not a fresh complaint. Daryl Hair has done many a thing to prove that he does not like the Asian teams and many other umpires have followed suit. For e.g. Steve Bucknor took it upon himself to give all his wrong decisions against India in a particular series. He was so bad that Ganguly had to go on record stating that Bucknor does mediocre umpiring. This at a time when Bucknor was considered the best umpire in the world. If Sreesanth can be fined for his antics in the 1st test, how come Nel escapes the whip everytime?? As new as today, Daryl Harper warned Dinesh Kaarthick for excessive appealing for the very first appeal he did today! How many of you watched the last Ashes? The great Shane Warne was literally shouting into the umpires ear every other ball for the better part of the Collingwood double hundred!
3. Cricket epicentre: The HQ of cricket was moved from England to Dubai. I can never understand why Dubai was chosen. Agreed that the Sharjah tourneys are well held, but is that good enough? Even if you want to give the sport a boost in that region, do you have to have your HQ there? When 40% of the test playing teams are in the sub-continent, we should rightfully be the HQ. Not to mention that most of the money for ICC comes from this area of the world. Hell, we have Lara, Ponting, Vaughn, Flintoff, Fleming etc doing Ads in India, not to mention the likes of Brett Lee crooning in India.
Even in this modern day and age and cricket being this religion in India, the sports administration makes us feel that we are still living in the colonial era!!
After thought: Do I really care about all this or is it the test defeat speaking?
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