They have come to watch my batting,not your umpiring

It is always nice to see Tom Alter. His presence is so soothing in any programme, on any issue. Alter was certainly a welcome inclusion in the episode of Cricket Controversies aired on NDTV on Sunday night.

Few interesting things that came out of the programme for general public, in the episode titled Is cricket still a gentlemen’s game, were:

-- It was never really a gentleman’s game. When given out, WG Grace once reprimanded an umpire, saying ''they (people) have come to watch my batting, not your umpiring!’’. So how can we blame today's players.

-- Instances of sledging and ungentlemanly behaviour also increase the TRP of Live programmes, Recorded Programmes, Web and Newspaper readership.

-- They help take the focus away from real issues. And the real issue today is that India is 0-2 down and in real danger of losing it badly (Though the initial ammunition here was provided by the umpires and the Australians, leaving the Indians with no option but to retaliate)

-- Even in sports like Chess and Tennis, where the intensity level is very high compared to relaxed time for some cricket players (Especially those in the close-in cordon between two deliveries/overs), instances of bad behaviour are rampant. (I rememeber reading that during the World Championship matches between Karpov and Korchnoi, there were allegations of attempts to hypnotise players (by some spectators sitting in the front row).

Blog's conclusion: In Cricket, ugly behaviour and sledging will continue because no one wants to lose. Even though Cricketing Doves like Alter may remember Sidhu more for his sixes (in the 1987 World Cup), than for his altercation with Aamir Sohail!
Meanwhile, here is a link from my another blog. Spiritualsolace.blogspot.com, on ''Is happiness just a state of mind.''
http://spiritualsolace.blogspot.com/2007/12/is-happiness-just-state-of-mind.html

What Bishan Bedi never said!

Well he never said that the 1990 Indian team be thrown into the sea!!

In a TV programme Sunday Night, Bishan Singh Bedi has clarified that he had never said that the Indian team should be thrown into the pacific ocean after a humiliating loss to Australia during a triangular series in New Zealand in March 1990.

Speaking on cricket controversies programme on NDTV Sunday night, Bedi, the Indian coach then, said the comment was wrongly printed and actually what he said (after India failed to chase a very modest score) was that if somebody wants to commit suicide by jumping into the sea, he won’t stop him!

Unfortunately, his anguish, with little touch of humour, became a reckless comment by the time it reached the countrymen and created one of the biggest verbal turmoils in Indian cricket.

His wife, also on the programme, said that while people may have thought of Bedi as aloof and arrogant at times, he was only being frank and forthright.

In fact, Bedi has been forthright and candid (read outspoken) throughout his life (as player, coach and columnist) which was evident when he objected to Vaseline 'abuse' by Lever during England's tour of India in late seventies. A year earlier at Kingston, to protest against West Indies 'immoral intimidation' he had declare India's second innings rather prematurely.

However, Bedi's wife did say that at times she felt that his criticism of Sourav Ganguly was little harsh and in arguments with her husband on Sourav, she often defended Sourav and asked Bedi to be soft on him!

Interestingly Atul Wassan, a pacer on that tour, jokingly pointed out that Bedi, after one such bad performance told them that make sure if your performance is not upto it on the field, at least it is good off it!

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Below are the links to two others blogs by Atul

http://spiritualsolace.blogspot.com/

http://suckersofworld.blogspot.com/