New Battle Fronts In The Cricket Arena
It
Is ICC Versus BCCI Now
By S Zeyaur Rahman
We
Orientals can be forgiven for believing in all kinds of
superstitions and jinxes. In fact we are supposed to harbour a
couple of them. So I can be forgiven in believing in some kind of
jinx in the cricket relationship between South Africa and India.
In the last two years two major controversies have shaken the
cricketing establishment to the core. The first was the match
fixing scandal and the second one is the seemingly unmanageable
trouble arising out of the decision taken by the ICC Referee Mike
Denness. In both these cases a series between South Africa and
India was the catalyst, the immediate cause.
It would have been great if we could give such simplistic
explanations for every complex problems and people were naive to
believe it unquestioningly, accept it ungrudgingly. But my
friends, we live in a world, which has been enlightened at least
two centuries ago and there is no place for romanticism like
these. Things, events, acts have to be accounted for, explained,
justified on the parameters of reason and needs to be accepted by
the others as well.
At the moment of penning down this article, the entire issue had
been blown out of proportion and it would be rather difficult for
me to take an impartial if not a rational approach. It has been
termed as US versus THEM with all hues of colour and all shades of
regionalism joining the fray, and despite all the media ethics I
have to take a side and I will take one.
I do not feel the necessity to reiterate the exact chain of
events. That has been told and retold n number of times in all
possible way through every conceivable medium. That is the snow of
last year, so to speak. What he have now is the dark clouds
looming large over world cricket and a major crisis is about to
precipitate if we do not take the necessary damage control
exercise.
We can debate endlessly on the reasons that made Mike Denness
behave the way he did. If we go by the picture of angst painted by
the Indian media we might well end up mistaking Mike Denesss for
some devil incarnated. The grass on the other side is not so
greener this time because, even if a miniscule section, but still
there are voices that are in consonance with the stand taken by
the ICC referee. Why go further, our own Raj Singh Dungarpur sees
nothing fundamentally wrong with Denness.
The kind of consensus that is emerging around the controversy
surrounding Sachin Tendulkar is that he was not guilty of lifting
the seem of the ball but doing so without the permission or at
least the knowledge of the umpire. The followers of the cult of
Tendulkar do not agree with the it and say that even body does
that and without the consent of the umpire. Another school of
thought says that everybody does that but does not get caught on
the camera. Lifting the seam of the ball or cleaning it, is an
accepted phenomenon despite being against the laws of the game.
The second objection is that Denness acted suo moto on the matter.
Normally he acts on such matters after his attention is invited by
the officiating umpires. It is not clear if acting suo moto is
beyond his jurisdiction. The referee is there to assist the
umpires in the smooth functioning of the game and you can
interpret this clause in as many ways.
One has to really think hard as to the motives that drove Denness
to take such a step. I am sure he was aware of the consequences
and the ramifications that his decision was likely to cause. Was
it a desperate publicity stunt? Did Denness want something
happening in life rather than just follow the beaten track? One
cannot question Denness for upholding the laws of the game but he
comes under the ambit of suspicion because his act has neither
consistency nor precedent.
The banning of Sehwag and penalizing five other members for
excessive appealing is not questionable per se but as per the
context. It is not Denness’ problem if Justice Ebrahim chose to
be lenient or any other referee for that matter acts according to
his gut feeling. What we should question is has Denness been
taking such radical stance in his capacity as a referee all these
years. The answer is no. Then why it is this time and only agibnst
the members of one of the two teams in question? It is here that
Denness finds himself in the dock.
Anybody associated with cricket has seen more vociferous and
intimidating appeals than Sehwag is found guilty of. But that has
become a part of the gentleman game. I find it difficult to
believe that Denness had a revelation that he was the chosen one
to cleanse the game of all the ills that it had accumulated over
the years and based on this divine providence he acted at the
earliest possible opportunity. I would be satisfied only after he
has explained the reasons for his over activism bordering on
missionary enthusiasm and is rather close to abhorrence of
anything slightly out of order.
Let us come to the second angle of the problem, which to me
appears more problematic. The players apparently have been found
causing disrepute to the game. But the manner in which the
officials have conducted themselves and gone about the issue has
undoubtedly caused more damage to the reputation of the game than
an entire band of vagabond players could have done.
With these officials I mean people other than Mike Denness. The
UCBSA Chief has not been equal to his task. He had handled the
matter pretty casually to begin with and all of a sudden became
pretty severe when things went out of hand. His Indian counterpart
assumed himself to be the unofficial kingmaker of the world and
spoke on behalf of all the wronged against people of the world on
whom this discrimination had suddenly dawned. No doubt India is a
cricketing power, at least off the filed, but the direct collision
course that Mr Dalmiya chose to follow and later retreated has not
done any good to the image of Indian cricket already severely
scathed by the match fixing episode.
As of now all consensus has eluded the warring factions and the
polarization is increasing. It would be too rudimentary to see it
as a Black vs White issue. Certainly the colour factor is
definitely there but it is not the only point of contention. The
focal point of cricket has been drifting from London to the
subcontinent and it had sounded warning bells to the traditional
custodians of the game. No matter how much they resent the
increasing prominence of erstwhile non entities, they cannot do
anything to stop the power slipping away from its hands. India on
its part must realize that Delhi cannot be substitute for London
or Eden Gardens for Lords. The shift in power has begun but not
yet been completed. More importantly, the affinity and unity that
Australia, England and New Zealand are a privy to is a distant
dream at any given time when one talks of the same in the sub
continent.
The best way to resolve the impasse is to tone down the rhetoric
and lower the stakes. Any further fossilisation of the radical
stand will make the possibility of a respectable solution all the
more improbable. It will definitely lead to a major embarrassment
for either of the parties, which is definitely not good for the
cricket community.
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