One of the fellow posters made a comment in another thread that even though two top order Australian batsmen were not out (lbws) in the second innings in the test match, Aussies haven’t come out crying about it which is nice to see. Indian media would have gone crazy if it had happened to them…..
A worth discussing question/comment…the issue is not 2, 3, or 6 LBWs going against or in favor of australia…the real question is India’s emotional reaction to such decisions (not LBWs only but also issues that involve their players’ behavior for instance) in the recent past…while India deserves a tremendous applause for their win in the Perth test match (and I really mean it from bottom of my heart considering Pakistan’s horrible performance against aussies in last 15 years), some fundamental questions still need to be answered…..why can’t Indians accept the defeat with grace…why does every time a controversy need to spur should India loses a match……why does the Indian media (including commentators and ex-cricketers) , unintentionally or intentionally, always blame umpires/ICC officials so blatantly and brutally when India faces humiliation?
All I am saying that the international cricketing community is observing a certain pattern in India’s reaction to embarrassing moments. This dangerous pattern has forced ICC to set such a horrendous precedent by removing steve bucknor but the point to be noted is that the set precedent would act as a “golden-example-lets-do-it-again” for India only…….rest of the cricketing nations barring Australia and England lack the economic firepower (that India holds) to blackmail ICC…so what does it mean?..now we have three blackmailers instead of two? And is cricket getting any thing good out of all this mess? If India is really serious in improving this situation (concept of elite umpiring, involvement of technology in final decisions, hearing rules etc), why can’t india exercise its influence on ICC in a more positive way by making some fundamental changes to the game? why try using your influence to remove umpires from the series?
Yes the Indian media tends to over-react when it comes to cricket but don't forget that there is a history between Bucknor and the Indian team and the ill feeling between the two stretches back to 1999 or so. Had it just been the Sydney test then I am sure the ICC would have strongly resisted any move to drop him. But because of the history and the general lack of trust the Indians have in Bucknor's umpiring, the shocking no. of umpiring blunders in that test, not to mention the boycott threat, the ICC felt compelled (rightly or wrongly) to remove Bucknor
Also this notion that the umpires are above reproach and should be treated like Gods all the time must go. They must be held accountable for making consistently wrong decisions. Bad umpiring mars a good game of cricket and poorly performing umpires (no matter how experienced they are) must be punished just like good players are dropped from time to time if they perform below certain standards and expectations (recent examples of Akhtar and Dravid)
are you kidding me? how can aussies cry about the 2 lbw decisions, when more than those have gone against indians in this very match. Also some decisions that should have been given were not against the aussies. really strange to hear this. your looking at the last day and thats it, fantastic!
and the way some people talking about steve bucknor and the last match. did you watch the match, I dont care if it is India, pak, sl, sa, i mean there is no way any team is going to take that lightly. I am 100% sure it would have nastier if it was lets say england instead of india. Whats the fuss in dropping bucknor? He has had the worst game an umpire can have...he needed to be out of the scene, how can you play in an environment when u dont trust the people making the decisions? Does he get some god like stature, that no matter how badly he performs, because he is part of elite team, its not a problem? India just recently lost the first test in Melbourne, i guess you felt they "always blame umpires/ICC officials so blatantly and brutally when India faces humiliation".
And trust me the Aussie players and media would not be so forgiving were it not for the fact that umpiring blunders helped them to win the last test in Sydney. Hence they are not whinging at the moment.
Going by the quality and performance of cricket India has won this series. We had Aussies pinned down in a death grip at 137/6 in the 2nd test and got Symmonds out at that point.
Bucknor ruled him not out. He went on to save Aussie backside and won the test, combined with Ponting cheating in a dropped catch.
You can have all the fancy discussions you want but this is the story of this series. By sheer incompetence of umpires and cheating by Aussie captain, an Aussie series defeat was saved.
You want India reaction? I'll give you our reaction:
One of the fellow posters made a comment in another thread that even though two top order Australian batsmen were not out (lbws) in the second innings in the test match, Aussies haven't come out crying about it which is nice to see. Indian media would have gone crazy if it had happened to them…..
Two things :
(1) The fact that Indian public and media go overboard with bouqets and brickbats is not exactly breaking news. The media and the public feed on each other.
(2) The Aussies have "no moral high ground" this time to complain about Umpiring mistakes.
ps> As I have posted before - Symonds indicated to Bowden that he had nicked the ball when he was given LBW by Bowden. I wonder why he did not do the same in Sydney (indicate to Bucknor that he had nicked the ball). Answer this.
It is easy to be righteous when you are the victim.
pakistanis have forgot inzi’s decision to forfeit the test match in ENG. what a gr8 reaction/action that was taken by the team pak n management. :halo: if they can go to such extremes against an umpire’s decision then why can’t the indians? or maybe pakistani’s are doodh ke dhullay.
