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Rajan Ahuja
C/o Realty & Verticals
J4/2, DLF- II , Gurgaon
e mail :-
rajan.ahuja@gmail.com
info@realtyverticals.com |
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Cricket: What A Big Monkey
Business!
Cricketers from the sub continent
have long been subjected to on field abuse. The latest being Harbhajan
Singh. And when they dared to lash out, they have been targeted as racists.
It's quite strange and discomforting to believe that the victims of racism
are now faced with perpetuating Racism. And all because a country would
want to win at any cost.
Australia pioneered sledging
and now faces the backlash. Racist sledging has been vindicated by players
like Steve Waugh as mental disintegration. For a very long time the skills
of the sub continental players used to crumple under this abuse. Being
competitive is one thing but being an outright hooligan is another. I think
the country that has stained the gentleman's game the most is Australia.
Even though Australia may be a team of great cricket players but they are
a group of arrogant individuals.
When the ICC code of conduct
was established, it took a great cricketer (Clive Lloyd) with strength
of character to impose a befitting punishment. Many in the game lack the
backbone or will to stomp out such actions. For far too long some countries
have used abuse and bullying as part of their game plan to win games. There
is definitely a racial divide in cricket amongst nations, which a lot of
people are happy to close the eyes to because it's uncomfortable.
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But the theory that racism
in cricket may be geographically isolated or simply un-Australian has since
been shown to be false. Today Australian team is the direct opposite of
standard virtues of the game, which upholds fair play over winning at any
cost. For now, the Australian side is a winning factory where there is
no room for experiments with the truth. All that matters is the 16th continuous
wins.
Cricket stands at the crossroads
today and it is not a matter of a solitary game. The situation faced by
the Indian team is the product of these abandoned facets of the game. There
is no doubt that confrontational mind-sets can scar any sport or game,
but the awful lack of umpiring values can ignite the situation such that
there is no way out. This is what has happened in Australia. |
After the uproar created by
Steve Bucknor and his umpiring will need to be dealt with strongly. Would
countries be permitted to have umpires of their choice? What’s the professional
motive of having neutral umpires? Can those objectives be transparent and
visible in actions? Where does technology stand in all this? There’s no
denying that technology and sport are here to stay if human error has to
be reduced. And for that the umpires have to opt to use the available tools
and choice to reach at fair decisions.
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