... It's been a very long time (a year or perhaps, even more) since I last 'blogged' here. I have been pushed to do so now, thanks to the ongoing Indo-Aussie Test Cricket Series. The series as such is a treat for the eyes, what with all the best players in the game, playing it out within a span of (just) five days (or, sometimes even less!). No cricketing fan could ever have asked for more, if only the Indian eleven were more consistent, like their Aussie counterparts. But that would leave the two teams with no contrast. It is this inconsistency of the Indian eleven which makes the matches all the more intriguing, the game becomes as unpredictable as our Sensex!, as you may already know. (of course, the only distinction being that the Sensex has had a mean trend of rising over the last couple of years, while the 'Men In Blue' have not)
The first test was unmistakably mismatched, not another word needs to be uttered. Whereas the second test match has been quite evenly contested, as far as the first innings were concerned, for, the second innings is progressing as I blog. Tons of runs scored, lots of boundaries hit and also twenty wickets fell, all within three days' time. Not to mention, Brad Hogg and Harbhajan Singh (pardon me if I've misppelt the name), two fine spin bowlers chipping in with their bats. The batting performances of Ponting, Hussey, Symonds, Dravid (getting off the mark off his 40-oddth ball, applauded by the crowd, and acknowledging it!), Laxman, Tendulkar, Ganguly and the rest, have all been undoubtedly superb. The bowlers who got these batsmen out (save Tendulkar, who remained unbeaten on 150-plus) deserve equal, if not higher praise. Overall, the match was a like a fine composition of music by Beethoven. The only injustice done to the game was by the justices themselves!
The umpiring decisions have been below ordinary, to be explicit, outrageously absurd! Reprieving Symonds twice, when he was around 35-45, while the Aussies were surprisingly struggling at 130-plus for 6 (once in blue moons of blue moons!) and he being the only established batsman left in the team, easily changed the just course that the game should have taken. Brag Hogg, for his part, decided to make it his day and spoilt the Indians' plans of wrapping up the Aussies under 200. A similar lower order resistance, from the Indians, giving support to the unbeaten Master Blaster ensured that they managed a meagre lead of 69 runs, against the just lead of 250-plus, if only the umpires had used their heads more often. Now, at the end of the fourth day's play (rain playing spoil sport, Matt Hayden and Mike Hussey making merry with their bats) and the Aussies having scored 250-plus for the loss of 4 wickets, the Test seems to be heading for a lame draw, unless the Aussies decide otherwise.
Let us contemplate a little bit about the game itself. The game is played and refereed by human beings. To err is human goes the saying. Alright. How does the game penalise the errors committed by the people in the game? A batsman who errs can possibly lose his wicket. A bowler who errs can get his ball dispatched over the boundary ropes. A fielder draws flak for his mistakes from his captain. Any player in the eleven who doesn't live up to the standards of the game can get sacked. The only other human component in the game are the umpires. When the umpires err, they draw criticism from the game's ardent followers. But that's about it. They are unvanquishable. They don't get questioned. They don't lose their pay. They won't be sacked either! What is the penalty then, one is left to wonder. Of course, there is a penalty, but a very stingy one. There is this Elite Panel of umpires, from which an umpire can be removed if he performs under par (over eons). But this doesn't happen immediately either. And what about the umpires who are not already in the Elite Panel and who err? Simple. They won't be put on the Elite Panel! That's where they already are, aren't they? 'Imbecilic', don't you think?, well, you're not alone. I've lost a great deal of enthusiasm that I used to have in this beautiful game, over the years, having witnessed very many wrong umpiring decisions consistently. There used to be a time when I was enraged by them, not any more, got too familiar with it. What good is an umpire to the game if he can't hand out just decisions? It's equivalent to having judges handing out sentences to the innocent and letting free the guilty. At least one has the provision of appealing against such a decision in a higher court. There is no such thing in the game and whatever the umpires feel is the ultimate judgement handed out, not only to the game, but also to it's millions of fans.
Unless this scenario is changed with help from technology, I'm very sure that the game will continue to lose many more loyal fans over time. What I propose is very simple a solution to implement, yet very effective.
1.A captain can appeal against a decision by the on-field umpires a maximum of three times in a day's play. The appeal will be scrutinised by the TV umpire and the commentators, who are sometimes better judges. The jury comprising of the TV umpire and the commentators shall hand out the final verdict.
2.If any on-field umpire is found guilty of handing out only one wrong verdict in a day's play, his match fee for that day shall be halved. For further wrong decisions, it shall be halved further. So an umpire who hands out three wrong verdicts in a day, will get only half of half of half of his total stipulated pay for that day.
3.Any decision can be referred by the on-field umpires to the TV jury (comprising of the TV umpire and the commentators), if the on-field umpire is in doubt of his own judgement. This happens quite often as the time and the resources available to the on-field umpires are usually insufficient for them to make the right decision.
Though the above points may sound like hogwash to some, most people, I'm sure, will share my thoughts. One can only hope that the ICC comes to think the same soon enough, before the game gets monickered “The Game of Outrageous Umpiring!”
