COMMENT
ICC succumb to Pawar’s power:
Oh cricket! What sins are committed in thy name
Elmo RODRIGOPULLE
With Indian off spinner Harbhajan Singh, being cleared of racially
abusing Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds and being fined for a
lesser offence of abusing an opponent, the whole cricket world has
collapsed.
And the laughing stock is the International Cricket Council and
Cricket Australia. They must be hiding like Adam did in the garden of
Eden after eating of the forbidden fruit. And the Board of Control for
Cricket in India must surely be laughing their sides out and saying to
themselves - we beat them both by innings.
Originally, Harbhajan was found guilty of racially abusing Symonds by
match referee Michael Procter, and was slapped a Three Test ban. But the
ICC allowed Harbhajan to play, appointing an Appeal Judge to sit and
inquire into the charge.
Now what the ICC should have done was to have first carried out the
order of the match referee. To let Harbhajan play and then take action
was not cricket and it was a slur on Procter.
Now the Appeal Judge John Hansen has ruled out racial abuse and fined
Harbhajan 50 per cent of his match fee after the bowler pleaded guilty
to the lesser offence and the Three Test ban was lifted.
What prompted the judge to go easy was that the ICC and especially
Cricket Australia, had chickened fearing that the Indians would pull out
of the Commonwealth Bank Tri-series and leave them facing a million
dollar law suit.
Reports have it that the Australian players who made the charge
against Harbhajan had been told to by Cricket Australia to drop the
racial abuse charges and go for a lesser offence.
Now the ICC and CA have rightly being accused of chickening and
giving in to the BCCI. And the BCCI is being accused of threatening the
ICC and CA and having their own way.
Apparently the BCCI were aware that the ICC had still not shed its
toothless Tiger image and that they have no fangs to bare, struck when
the iron was hot, and now the ICC, the shieks of cricket had their
bubble burst and now left to lick their wounds, which wounds would never
heal but be a cancer,what with other Cricket Boards likely to take the
cue from the Indian Board and act that way,when faced with similar
situations.
The Australian cricketers who levelled the racial abuse charges,must
also be having that sickening feeling. They too like their Cricket Board
and the ICC lacked guts. Sad when one thinks that cricket teaches one to
play a straight bat.
Now it would be interesting to watch how the Umpires panel and the
elite Match Referees panel will act. First they had their best umpire
sent home after the mistakes he made. Then match referee Procter’s
decision has been overruled.
As for the umpires, what happened to Bucknor would prompt them to not
get involved in controversy and lose the big money they earn. Ditto the
match referees. And if this happens where will all these lead to?
It will no doubt devalue everything that the game of cricket stands
for and when the great scorer comes to write against your name, he will
not write whether you won or lost, but how you did not offer a straight
bat and sacrificed the game for fear and filthy lucre.
Cricket, the game must be standing naked after the sins that have
been committed in its name.
One needs not predict that the game would never be the same again.
The ICC has also boobed by not making Kiwi Judge John Hansen aware
about the true facts of the case.
According to the judge, an administrative mistake by the ICC has
saved Harbhajan.
The ICC has apparently misinformed the judge by not informing him
that there were four previous convictions against the off spinner.
ICC had told him that there had been only one previous offence.
So it is sad that the ICC had misled the judge. Shame is too light a
term to describe the act of the ICC.
Judge Hansen would not have been faulted if he had reprimanded the
ICC.
Oh cricket! What sins are committed in thy name.
Now that the BCCI has snooked the ICC it would not be a bad idea for
the ICC to entrust all its duties to the BCCI. The final verdict is that
Sharad Pawar’s BCCI power has won the day.
Pawar is the power behind the BCCI as president. |