The Great Fix!

The news was not expected, to me at least. It was impossible to argue, in spite of lack of concrete evidence, that IPL is not rigged. It turned out to be worse than I thought. My feeling was that the tournament was fixed from the top i.e. the administration is fixing the results to suit them. And though I think that still is the case (Chennai’s team is owned by chief of BCCI, how fucked up that conflict of interest has to be!), it has emerged that even players were fixing the games. I do not think the trio currently in bind are the only ones. Two of the players are virtually unknown to have any effect on the results on sustained basis. The fixing goes down deeper, the so called super-stars have to be involved.

It is a batsman’s game. The fixing plan, as per Delhi Police, was bowlers will leak out pre-determined number of runs in a particular over. There was an elaborate system to signal bookies about the players where bowlers were going to ‘take a dive’. But if batsman refuses to hit the bowl, even if the delivery is mother of all lose delivery then what? Also, what if batsman is dumb enough to get out or mishit and gets caught? Also, if two of the bowlers in question were at best fringe players for their respective state teams. If they had this kind of precision to leak the runs then they would be fucking playing for India by now. The only way this plan would work is if batsman was also part of the fix. The bowler will throw a dumb delivery and batsman, knowing this, will hit for the boundary.

Can anyone please ask these questions to the cops? Oh right, the media and the press already work for BCCI and IPL, they will summarily bury this issue in a week or so.  

Even if these bowlers had not got caught, the signs of IPL being fixed are all over the place. The teams are structured haphazardly; the ownerships are shrouded in mystery and the source of funding is murky. If that wasn’t enough then BCCI administration was transitioning into a political organization headed by one of the most corrupt politician in the country. Do you think he really gave a shit about Cricket? He saw the opportunity to siphon money and he jumped in with his two feet. His cotire is who’s who of power and money and IPL was their call to duty.

The prices of teams were beyond wildest imagination. To give readers some perspective – NBA's Boston Celtics was sold to new owners in 2001 for around $340 Million. The team has highest number of championships in the history of NBA; they were the pioneers of employing black players and hiring a black coach. They won unprecedented 9 championships in a row, the feat hasn’t been accomplished again. They, in short, defined Basketball and NBA. On the other hand, Pune’s IPL sold for the same price with virtually no history in IPL and no solid future plan. And, I am discounting the fact that Boston is in US where $ is the currency while Pune is in India where Rs. Is the currency and $1 is equivalent to Rs.55 that means the you have to multiply $340 by  55 to get the valuation of team in Rupee.

Okay…I will stop here….what I meant to say is this shit is fucked up!

I have already ranted about how IPL is ruining Indian cricket. It was befuddling to see players like Sehwag and Gambhir throw away their privilege of playing for India, just so that they could earn more money playing in IPL. By the way, playing for India does earn them millions of dollars (again multiply it by 55 to get their real income in Rupee!) I argued that lure of money shouldn’t be a reason for them to act like this and I also said that this precedent will kill Cricket. I didn’t realize that these players have sold their soul for money.

To be honest all of this doesn’t matter as long as public is flocking to watch the games and flock they will! If we don’t demand honesty then we will only get crooks, if we don’t demand commitment then we will only get money mongers. We get what we deserve, nothing more nothing less!

Why Indian cricket suck?

I was all riled up when India meekly capitulated to Australia in the third test at Perth. But then I had epiphany. It made perfect sense. Playing for India is irrelevant. It used to be an honor, a privilege. The respect you earn for representing your country, the allure of joining a club so select that only few hundred people in last 50 years have managed to join. Not only you have to be a good player but you also need to be fortunate enough to successfully maneuver the corrupt, inept and greedy institution of BCCI. You play for India after all that, you are the man!

But now all you have to play for is IPL. As long as you are “sold” to one of the teams you are gold. Who wants to work hard, stay in shape and perform to play for India when you can make more money in less than half the work playing in IPL?

The reason for my rant is not that India lost to Australia. We are used to that. It’s the way the team lost. It’s the manner of the defeats. The way India lost was not only humiliating but rather debasing. To lose is okay, to surrender after tough fight is also okay but to pack-up and run when faced with odds is not okay. It’s not okay at any level, lest you are playing for your country. There are more than one billion souls living in India. And when representing 1/6^th of world population you can’t gather your cajones to fight then shame on you. Move aside and let the novice take the charge; at least, they will go down fighting.

You see before ensuing tour of Australia I, along with few hundred million people, sincerely believed that India will win this test series. We have the whole squad health and running. Australia on the other hand was still a maturing side. With ax hanging over Ponting’s head and Hussey (my man!) in getting phased out, I thought we can either win 2-0 or 2-1. After three tests and 3-0 scoreline, in favor of Aussie, I am proved to be a dumbass along with few hundred million people. Was India destined to lose? In hindsight, yes. Was India supposed to lose this bad? Probably not!

Look at these disparate set of stats:

· India scored 400 only once and that too thanks to R. Ashwin, a newbie.

· In three test matches Aussie collectively have scored at least four hundreds including two 150+ scores and one 300+ scores. India on the other hand has yet to notch a single individual hundred.

· In third test match David Warner, a newbie himself, single handedly scored 180 at rapid pace. India’s 1^st inning total was 161 and 2^nd inning total was 171.

To truly appreciate the manner of debacle, lack of will, and general disinterest in winning look at following stats:

· Sachin alone has played more than 180 test matches. If you take out Ponting then test match experience of rest of the Aussie team barely touch that number.

· Collective age of all Aussie fast bowlers doesn’t even come close to number of centuries scored by Sachin alone.

· Total number of centuries scored by Sachin, Laxman, Dravid, Gambhir and Sehwag totals more 125 and I am talking only about test centuries.

And finally the true cause of disinterest is the amount of money these players make irrespective of the results. Indian players are contracted players of BCCI. They get paid the contracted sum no matter how much cricket they play. Thus the quantity is the criteria rather than the quality. Class A contract usually reserved for people like Sachin, Dravid and Dhoni usually stands for Rs. 1 Crore per annum. And Class D stands (please correct me if I am wrong) for Rs. 20 lakh per year. On top of that they get paid extra for each One Day, Test and Twenty-20 they play. And to top the icing they make more money through endorsements. But kids let me tell you a secret. The money that we calculated so far (the average annual income in India is around Rs. 40,000!) is peanuts for these cricketers. That’s right the real big-daddy money comes from IPL. And I am talking really big rich sugar daddy!

It’s not just the astronomical sums that these players get paid but the fact that they get paid in American dollars is truly astounding. Let me start with an example from recent past. An obscure player like KD Karthik who can’t hold his place in India team commands $2 million salary in IPL. So it’s simply unfathomable how much money Sachin, Dhoni and Sehwag must be making! In 2009 Dhoni made $9 million i.e. more than Rs 46 crore! The reality is quite stark here. BCCI Class A contract Rs 1 crore. IPL contract more than Rs 9 crores. You do the math! If they can make millions of dollars playing for stupid ass tournament like IPL then why bother playing for India? Even if they are not contracted by BCCI they can still make that much money in a month then why will they care about winning in Australia?

I have blogged on this topic before and in my last blog the target of my ire was Gambhir. I published that blog after disastrous England tour. Since that tour India fought hard to win against weak West Indies. And I wasn’t surprised to see Gambhir has not scored a decent knock since England tour. Sehwag, apart from his 219 scored in a tiniest possible stadium has been a redundancy. Laxman’s pretty much checked-out. Sachin is waiting for someone to present him his 100^th century. Zaheer came back all right. Dhoni has rapidly faded into a non-factor. I mean how on earth a world-champion team fades into lame-ass mediocrity and listlessness within a year? Where’s the pride? Where’s the ego?

For better or for worse (mostly for worse!) cricket is a national game of India. So much energy is wasted on the game that it’s aggravating to know that in last fifty years or so India has not produced a world-beating side. Mind you cricket is not even played at world level. There are officially only eight test playing nations. Of those, New Zealand is chronically resource-strapped. Bangladesh is chronically (and comically!) incompetent. West Indies is chronically mismanaged and Pakistan, well, you know! That leaves, apart from India, only Australia, South Africa and England as formidable sides. And India has not beaten Australia and South Africa in their respective countries and won only two series in last thirty in England. Yes, we have won against these nations in India but the mere fact that we can’t even dominate a game played, with some seriousness, only in four countries is mind-boggling.

India does not play well in any other game. These cricketers make so much money and still manage to lose. I know money doesn’t buy talent. But if these players don’t have talent then at least, don’t pay them! On top all this they whine about public pressure and tight schedules. Get over yourself! Because you get so much attention you command so much money. If no one showed up at the airport when your flight arrives then no one is going to pay you ever. Ask Dhanraj Pilley – an ace hockey player and former India captain. I don’t think he made enough money in his professional career as a star hockey player as what Virat Kohli makes in a year.

The tour’s going to end soon. I will be surprised if India doesn’t lose the fourth test by huge margin. Soon the IPL juggernaut will start rolling. Players like Gambhir and Kohli will score some half-ass runs in IPL making sure their American dollars continue to flow. India does not embark on international cricket tour for next couple of years. By then Gambhir and Kohli would have made at least $5 million dollars and nobody would care!

Average annual per capita income in India is little over $800.

The IPL Apple!

Once you bite the apple there is no going back! 

The recent performance of Indian team in England needs no introduction. No cricketing team ranked Number One has played as poorly as Indian team did. As if losing a series wasn’t bad enough India didn’t even win a single international game. Not even a single one-day international.
I blame this shameful performance to IPL. 

Gautam Gambhir a good batsman. But along with other ‘giants’ of the game he sucked big time against England. I think he should be dropped from the team not for his poor performance but for his lack of commitment to the cause. He played the World Cup and he must have been tired by the end of it. He also got injured during the world cup but instead of resting and preparing for one of the most important tour of England - place where ball swings viciously– he foolishly opted to play for his IPL team. He played the whole session and got injured some more. But then instead of excusing himself from the Indian team he had audacity to open the innings in the First test. At the back of such a strenuous work load his awful performance in next two tests makes lot of sense. What doesn’t make sense is his decision making ability. And yes, his insatiable grid!
He added another layer of injury during the third test against England and played no role in second and third innings.  (But he still managed to drop two crucial catches when he was on the field) But the agony doesn’t end here. I am talking about my agony! He says he banged his head hard enough to be disoriented for rest of the tour and yet he was playing for his IPL team again in the worthless Champions Trophy 20/20 right after end of England tour. 

IPL is here to stay is quite all right.  I am not against ‘cricketaintment’. I am not against cricketers making millions of dollars for 15 days’ worth of work. They can do whatever they want in their spare time. But they shouldn’t or rather they can’t mess their priorities when it comes to playing for India. IPL is a sport or entertainment, whatever you want to call it. But cricket in India is a different specie and has a storied past. Yes it’s a colonial game but India embraced cricket so readily because Indians got the taste of representing their country, to root for their country long before independence. Representing your country in any sport is a privilege but to do so in Cricket in India is unique. Also the fact that cricket is the only sport on the world level in which India suck less. We have been fielding competitive team since 1950’s. And these teams have given us quite a few moments to cherish. The victories were savored because there was little else to cherish. In 1980’s when India was slowly sinking in the potholes of economic disaster the victory of 1983 world cup was a gift from heavens. For such moments Indian fans elevated cricketers to God like status. Cricket is the only sport worth rooting for. Nobody in India follow Ranaji cricket yet throngs of people show up even if India is playing against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. 

They are not their only for the love of the sport. Crowd cheer for their country more than they cheer for the game. They want India to win every game against Pakistan. They want the gratification of winning against mighty Australians. Fans identify so much with cricket that they take any real or imagined insult at their cricketers personally. You rarely see Indians uniting against price hike or shitty corrupt politicians but they were on the street s protesting when Sehwag and Tendulkar were banned for a test in South Africa. Tendulkar is Tendulkar because he scores runs for India. He has been behemoth for Mumbai but his claim to fame is being highest run scorer for India. That’s his identity. And no matter how much successful IPL becomes or how much more IPL bastardizes the game, the first and foremost identity of a cricketer will always be his nationality. 

Under such situation it’s insulting to see Gambhir, Khan and Sehwag giving more importance to IPL owners than to India. It’s insulting to see Tendulkar skipping West Indies tour because he was tired from playing in IPL. I am not sure who he is kidding. There are only 8 serious test playing nations in the whole world. And if he is ready to skip playing against one of them so that he can concentrate on IPL then it’s not fair to Indian as well as to the West Indian fans. 

Talking to my brother on this issue he made a valuable counter-argument. BCCI is a heavily political organization unaccountable to the fans, to the government or even to the players. They pick or drop players for no obvious reasons. For example look at Amo Muzumdar’s career. A contemporary of Tendulkar and Kambali and a loyal soldier for Mumbai cricket, Muzumdar is the highest run-scorer of Ranaji trophy. And yet he was never even short-listed for Indian cricket team in any of the format. I mean we have in numerable dud players representing India since 1990’s and yet this behemoth of runs with perfect technique was neglected for no reason whatsoever. 

Under such conditions if Muzumdar had opportunity (he is retired from cricket couple of years ago) to play for IPL and not only make truckloads of money but splash on the national stage then would it be surprising if he shows loyalty to his IPL overlords than Indian cricket team? Probably not but it sure would be sad. Injustice happens to lot of people in India. In fact India is a land of injustice and unfairness. Do Indian soldiers manning Kashmir border get a fair deal? They are putting their life on the line only for politicians sitting in Delhi fuck up the hard won battles. These soldiers are poorly paid (as compared to any IT sector employee) and they get poor equipment to do their job. Would they rather man a rich person’s home just because they will make twice the money doing so? Some of the soldiers would but most of the soldiers do their job because they love their country. 

Indian players should play for the love of the country. I am not saying they shouldn’t worry about the money. They should be able to make as much as money as they can. The reality is, unlike the players of 60’s or 70’s; the current crops of players do make shitload of money playing for India. They are crorepati’s playing only for India. 

IPL is bonus money, a lot of money but still bonus. And as they say, one shouldn't work for the bonus! 

Please also see Suresh Menon’s blog below. His suggestion is spot on!
http://cricketnext.in.com/blogs/sureshmenon/2968/62659/need-a-body-for-the-players-by-the-players.html

The Great Indian Escape

It was the last hour of the third test. India, the recently crowned one-day cricket world champions, had five wickets in hand and only 86 runs to score. Any sane person would bet for India. It's just makes sense. A good 15 overs were in hand, sun was shining brightly. There was nothing stopping India from cruising to victory and win the already won cricket series. Yet Indian captain offered to call off the game to which West Indian captain happily obliged. And why wouldn't he? India had Laxman and Raina batting. Dhoni, Kohli and Harbhajan Singh were still waiting in the pavillion. To top it of, Ravi Rampaul who more than troubled Indian batsman through out the series was nursing wounds in the hospital.

Yet India decided to let go the game. Yes, they didn't loose. Yes, they won the series but if they did that in a shamefully defeated manner. It wasn't that they chose the draw over a win, it's that they didn't show intent to win that got me and scores of other riled up.

How can India call themselves the best test side in the world if they don't have enough balls to score 86 runs off 90 balls? Come on, you are telling me the pitch is slow? You just won the world cup for heavens sake! If you don't play to win then you should just go home and spare us the humiliation.

West Indies is ranked 7th out of 8 test playing nation. India is ranked 1st and yet India decided to opt for the draw. West Indian players are paid peanuts for playing while Class C contracted player in India makes more than Rs. 25 lakh. And that's just for being contracted. Players get paid for each test, one-day and 20-20. Add endorsement on top of that and each Indian player is a millionaire. And yet you play for a DRAW! You kidding me!

I am not saying Indian team plays bad. Of course not. They have been consistently winning for last ten years. They won easy games, they won hard games, they won some improbable games. They beat minnows, they beat good teams and few times they were just kick-ass. They deserve to be ranked number one.

But at the same time their rank is not secured. England and South Africa are within sniffing distance. If you want to hold on to your numero uno status then you need to win continuously. You need to play to win continuously. The aim should not just to be number one in the world but there shouldn't be any number one like you ever. That's what West Indian team of 1980's achieved. And that's the realm where Aussie of Shane Warne resided.

Indian team doesn't play for themselves. They play for India. And when you play for your country your only aim should be to win and nothing else. There's no draw, no cop-out clause. Dhoni, admittedly one of the greatest already, should be ashamed of his decision to shake hands when he should be busy whacking ball around.

Champions are champions are at the heart first and if you are thinking about draw then you ain't the one!

'Grand'ulkar

I know I know I was the one who wrote “Endulkar” blog some time ago. Call me a hypocrite or anything but at least I am ready to stand up to my fault. One lesson I learned is that no matter what, one should never write off a Champion. Champions are rarest of rare breed and hard to recognize but then Sachin's case is no secret. All though for what ever it's worth I must say that even in my last blog on him I expressed my admiration and respect for him. The reason for my recent epiphany was his blasting against Aussie in recent One Day international. I think it will be huge injustice to him if we see him only through the prism of statistics. Not that he comes out any less in that department. The staggering amount of runs he accumulated puts him in a rarefied air that’s usually reserved for grand masters of any trade. In fact, he doesn’t even have any other company or competition there. There are good players, there are great players and then there is Sachin Tendulkar.

Statistics is just one aspect of his grand career. To get obsessed by it is like getting lost in the woods and missing out the jungle. He started at the tender age of 17 when most of the kids are busy in doing nothing. Most of the kids are obsessed with some sort of sport or some sort of hobby but that’s the extent it goes it. Particularly in India the focus on education is so intense that if by any chance a kid is gifted with skills in certain sport then he or she is surely won’t be using them. But Sachin was one of millions. His early exploits in his school days were legendary by any standards. The way he scored runs and the way he would hit kids of his age around the ground is part of folklore. Of course he was lucky to be born in the city of Mumbai where Cricket has fanatical following. The city has produced numerous cricketing luminaries of international fame. At one point 80% percent of Indian team would hail from Mumbai alone. This helped Sachin in a sense that he was spotted early and was put on fast-track for Indian team. Still to debut against Pakistan in Pakistan was something. Not only you need talent to face Imran, Wasim and Waqar (it was Waqar Younis’s debut series too) but you need balls to stand against the these fiercest rivals. He had first one in ample and he showed second part quite successfully. Thus a star was truly born. But that still doesn’t truly capture his greatness.

The true greatness lies in his consistency. In recently ODI match against Australia it was fascinating to see him batting with Ravindra Jadeja who was born in 1988, merely a year before Sachin made his debut. For last twenty years he is scoring runs in every corner of the world and against every opponent possible. The sheer amount of travel and preparation would bring down mightiest of travelers. Then add the controversies surrounding game, internal team politics and generational change in the cricketing fraternity and the true character of a warrior starts to emerge. Oh and did I mention the burden of hundreds of millions of people for whom anything less than a century is a failure? The tremendous love showered on him by public comes at a very steep price.

His endurance, his all most religious zeal to score run and hunger to win for India over the span of twenty years truly makes him the greatest. Yes he scored runs but that’s merely a by product. It only shows that he knows his trade well. He is humble and never makes fuss about his status. He still talks in Marathi and still mingles with commoner whenever it’s feasible. Your truly was fortunate to see him up close twice. He was serene, focused and without an iota of attitude. He still carried his own kit and practiced with local kids (who are certain to tell the tale to their grandkids) telling them to throw ball at him as fast as possible. It was quite surprising to see how he remains firmly rooted in ground in such a limelight for twenty years.

I think he deserves Bharat-Ratna. And it shouldn’t be conferred to him when he is too old to walk but right now when he is still thrilling millions with his skills. I feel fortunate that I was part of the generation that witnessed the legend as it happened.

ICL, IPL and BCCI

To be honest I don't give a damn about ICL and IPL. For me, they are simply attempts to make more money out of T20 format. But what bothers me beyond anything was the fact the BCCI - the bastards of Cricket Control of India has audacity to ban all the players who wish to play for ICL. Please correct me if I am wrong here but last time I checked India was still a democratic country where the land where laws are respected and constitution is the only supreme authority. And if that's true then no human being should be objected from taking any legal profession that he or she deems appropriate. But when you play cricket and aspire to represent India then you have to let go the constitutional rights of unbiased employment as well as stomp over the basic human rights of finding livelihood through legal means.

BCCI is a stifling bureaucratic and inefficient organization that doesn't pay taxes to the government. It's highly political, corrupt and vindictive organization that just happens to sit on the possible fountainhead of humongous amount of money that may be generated in India. As if this wasn't enough then lately, the organization is headed by and run by politicians and businessman who haven't played cricket during their entire existence as earthlings. Only redemption in BCCI's excruciatingly arrogant behavior is the selection of team of good standard. Of course BCCI is not responsible for the high quality of cricketers but it is simply because huge number of talented people that aspire to play for the country. the The thing that keeps BCCI off the hot water is the considerably large number unbelievably talented cricketer India generates. So even if BCCI botch up the selection procedure and play politics internally at every corner, the team that they end up selecting plays decent standard of cricket. There are folklores about BCCI selectors and administrators ruining careers.

An important thing to note here is that BCCI gets no funding from Government of India. It's a non-profit, non-governmental organization. It pays no taxes either. But it's just an organization in India that happens to be related to Cricket. Technically, it won't be wrong to say players are representing BCCI rather than India. They are not accountable to anyone. Now considering how wonderfully disastrous Indian government works, people would like to keep BCCI out of government's inefficient hands. But that doesn't mean BCCI will flout the law of the land and behave in absolutely anti-competitive manner. Not just that with its financial might they are forcing governing bodies of other countries to follow this anti-social behavior.

ICL – Indian Cricket League is an organization run by an India billionaire who is a media mogul too. The planned to stage a T20 tournament in India with by establishing a Club structure akin to soccer clubs in Europe. All though they haven’t sold the franchise yet the expectation is that the Club owners will make money by filling stadiums and through sponsorships. ICL owners first approached BCCI regarding using BCCI's stadium. They apparently wanted BCCI’s blessing for this tournament and they were ready to share profits with BCCI too. It didn’t fly well in the life sucking atmosphere of BCCI. First BCCI refused the stadium usage for ICL events. (So, BCCI selected team represent India but their stadiums are private property and not open for public! Am I the only bummer sniffing some illogic here?) And then they disqualified ICL tournament as an official cricket tournament. Now how can one disqualify a cricket tournament that is played purely entertainment purposes? Of course bums at BCCI didn’t realize this initially. Later on instead of rectifying their unnecessary and irrational ‘ban’, they went a step ahead. Well, lot of steps ahead! BCCI declared that any player participating in ICL tournament will be barred from playing domestic tournaments in India. After that they asked employees like Indian Airlines or Indian Railways who field teams in domestic tournament to fire the players participating in ICL. BCCI wont’ allow ICL participants from playing county cricket in England. And the worst is that they are wrangling hands of cricket governing bodies of other nations to fall in line. Now other cricket boards are banning their players for taking part in ICL. This is just too much.

If this wasn’t enough they brazenly copied ICL concept and started their own league, IPL – Indian premier League. The rule is players can get selected for IPL. And if they chose not to then they will barred from any sort of cricket anywhere in the world. This goes smack against law of land. First, who decided BCCI is the sole representative of Cricket in India and if that wasn’t mandated by government of India then second, how come BCCI is deciding who can play what and where?

These questions won’t be asked. Ever! Because the ICL doesn’t stand chance against the staggering amount of money IPL generated before even a single match. Moreover, BCCI is run by a politician who happens to be a cabinet minister in the current government.

No one gives a damn what this lukkhaa blogger has to say. Because he is nothing but a common man for whom these morons staging drama for!

Same Shit, Different Day*

I was trying not to write anything about recently concluded second test match between India and Australia. Apart from being just a cricket test match, the end result of the controversy was all too obvious to me right from the beginning. To begin with, bad umpiring is nothing new in Australian tours. About Aussie players sledging, well, they learn how to sledge before they even say Ma. Moreover, lack of sportsman spirit, especially when they are looking at the defeat, is quite common of them anyways. Add shrill and jingoistic media glare of Australian press and it’s doesn’t require a rocket scientist to understand why visiting teams surrender meekly to Aussie. Regarding the opposition party this time the saga is re-telecasting of old failures. We are bad travelers. All though, the reason is same years after years, I have no clue why on earth Indian cricketing authority can’t make one lousy pitch that bounces like WACA? It also doesn’t help us that we surrender in tight situations. And, our board that controls the India cricket is more concerned about money than prestige of the country or welfare of the players. Granted that now-a-days Indian cricketers are paid handsomely (perhaps, too generously) but for India cricket board, players are simply race horses. If any of the race horse broke then they have one billion people to choose from. So we were in the familiar situation where aggressive opponents were pouncing on us and we, the Gandhian nation, keep talking sportsman spirit and “let’s forget the past” bullshit.

But then something strange happened and my hopes were rekindled. For itsy-bitsy, tiny-winy period of the time I thought Cricket board of India will stand by Indian players. For fraction of fraction of a millisecond I thought they will go head to head with Australians. For Nth part of the second I thought they will call off the tour to teach Australians a lesson about humility, about humane behavior and about showing respect to the opponents. It has nothing to do with nationalism or cowing to useless Indian media but just a practical way cure Australian cricketers of their stupid arrogance. We are biggest cricketing nation both in terms of viewership and money. If we don't use our might for this purposes then I am not sure what is all the money for?

But it wasn’t meant to be that way. Board cricket control of India – a grandiosely named and yet an ‘out-of-control’ cricketing body of India, which under the pretext of being a non-profit and non-governmental organization doesn’t pay taxes to the government (hell, my household is non-governmental and non-profit. Why do I pay taxes?) - initially made all the possible threats to every possible creature in this universe. (That includes giant Panda) And at the end like a good dog they backed down with their tail in between two legs.

We expect umpires to be non-partisan. We understand few tight decisions wrong but if it happens again and again in the same test then that umpire should just go. Worst, when an umpire refuses to uses everything that is at his disposal to give correct decision then that’s criminal negligence, moreover, in rare case of referral to the third umpire results into wrong decision then that umpire should be charged under penal code! Additionally if an umpire in spite of seeing a grassed catch decides to go by the players word then that just does it. And if all this happened in the space of five days then I am short of words to explain my anger and frustration. But Hold on, that’s not the end of the saga. In fact, that’s just the beginning. Ricky Ponting can’t understand squat of Harbhajan’s bowling. Batting against Harbhajan he is like a floppy duck trying to walk on the ground. But he is certainly more intelligent than a duck. He cleverly framed Harbhajan and got rid of him. And, what BCCI did? “We take racist comments seriously” really? Good to know that. Though if both of the players were of the same color then how can any comment of be racist? That’s tiny details that we don’t want to deal with.

Unfortunate the only thing that will force BCCI to pull out of the tour is more money. If someone is ready to pay BCCI all the money they will loose if Australian tour ends up in fiasco then BCCI will happily call off the tour. They don’t care about national prestige because technically players don’t represent India, they represent BCCI. (I am serious!) They don’t care about lack of sportsmanship from Australian side or clearly biased umpiring or racist accusation against their own players because all this doesn’t results into loss of revenue. Yes we lost the series. So what? We do that all the time. But if you think that something can happen that will have direct implication on BCCI’s revenues then hell, yeh, we are calling off even Sri Lanka Vs. England tour!

In short, my message to all the fans of Indian cricket is this –: either get a real job rather than wasting time on burning effigies or writing angry blogs (ala me!) or start collecting money and donate it to BCCI to call off the tour.

* Same Shit, Different Day was the answer Martin Crowe gave when he was asked about Aussie behavior.