Mohammad Ali Sattar
So everything wicked has happened this time to the World Cricket. The just concluded ICC World Cup tourney ended on March 29 with Australia as the deserving champs. No complaints. The losers in the final, New Zealand, were another deserving team to reach the grand finale.
But the match disappointed most of the fans around the world. It turned out to be a lackluster event with Aussies romping home with a convincing 7 wicket victory over the black caps. The world expected a blistering contest. That did not happen.
If we look down the memory lane almost all the finals had been a one sided affair, especially when the other teams faced Australia.
But all was not fine with the whole procedure. This year the ICC tournament got off under heavily darkened sky. The clouds overhead was emitting signals of wrong doings. The matches in the middle of the imposing stadiums in New Zealand and Australia were the outward images that we witnessed.
While the gullible fans cheered and jeered all through these weeks, the evil minds went on to plan things inside the shady rooms. The big three (India, Australia and England) of the ICC were always given the maximum support possible by their handpicked individuals, from the on field to TV umpires.
The men in red were undoubtedly working under some kind of instructions regarding their decisions on the field. The third umpires on whom the final reference is made either by the players or umpires in the middle also betrayed the very spirit of the game.
New technologies were introduced only to have the right decisions or in other words ‘justice’. We have seen so many verdicts made by the on field umpires altered after serious scrutiny via TV replays.
This not only gave new lease of life to the batsmen, it also meted fair judgment to the fieldsmen who toiled hard to take a catch or cause a run out. The third umpires are actually looked upon as the ultimate body or the Appellate court, whose decision will be crystal clear and satisfy every temperament.
With the most advanced technologies at work and timeless period to check and examine each appeal, the third umpires have clearly shown disregard to some while favouring a few. This they have done in full glare of the public and the world broadcasting media.
Their unethical acts were clearer when their controversial judgments were not presented more than once on the big screens, these were hushed up immediately – how foolish and how daring.
How did they imagine that they will be able to get away with these crimes? May be for now their misdeeds will be over looked by their masters and it will pass by as business as usual, but all those responsible – from the top boss to the lesser staff – will have to answer one day.
The day of disgrace will be theirs. There will be thorough scrutiny, autopsy and research over each ball. So things will emerge, may be a little while later.
Now for this tournament, it was India (the BCCI) that played a destructive role. They did not care to stop and listen about the nature of the contest and may have forgotten that it was not the Indian Premier League (IPL) being held in Indian courtyards.
They ignored the sentiments of the contesting teams, sporting fans and million eyes and lenses that might capture their mood, words and acts. They gave a damn about the outcome of such actions and attitudes.
In yet another brazen show of disregard to sporting world, the ICC methodically displayed total disrespect to its president by not allowing him to give away the champions trophy to the winning team. It’s the ICC tradition that the president hands over the trophies to the winners.
The incumbent ICC President is a Bangladeshi, a man who holds the prestigious position for good reasons. And for no good reason there sits a chairman to boss over the President, another bizarre creation of ICC.
Mr. Srinivasan, who is an Indian, with a record of bad doings, is the ICC chairman. Mr. Srinivasan was removed from the Indian cricket board for his alleged involvement in scandals relating to cricket in India. His was a stained tenure and still has lots of stinky stories to his name.
Mr. Mustafa Kamal, the ICC President, was embarrassed in an ICC meeting and was told to leave the room unceremoniously so that other members could discuss about his comments that he made following the controversial India – Bangladesh match.
Mr. Kamal had rightly expressed his dissatisfaction over the debatable decision of the umpires in that match which ultimately went against Bangladesh.
But his comments were not belligerent nor did it sound like breaching any code of conduct. He gave his mind to the attending pressmen in simple words that he was not happy about the umpire’s verdicts and that ICC will try to find out if there were any ‘intentional’ purposes by any of the umpires.
This was his fault. He was later humiliated in almost all that happened in Australia until the final. He was not given a seat in the Presidents box during the final match and was elbowed off by the council from the honor of distribution of mementos in the final. It was an all India affair in the final moments of price distribution.
It’s time the members of the world cricketing body take serious measures to save the sport from being entirely destroyed by corrupt officials and rich endowment from India. We can now think of having a new body of international cricket – named World Cricket Council.
Source: Weekly Holiday
