Sydney and Symonds haunt India

The loss to Oz wasn't more frustrating to India than the manner in which it was achieved. While winning a match is one thing, winning it at any cost is totally a different thing and that is what the Australians did, who claim they play hard and fair cricket. Cheating, Foul play, alleged racism by Bhajji were all that secured the Aussies their 16th consecutive win, one that could be termed as Black Sunday in the cricketing history. Not to forget the fact that Australians were playing with 14members in their side. The so called on field umpires could have worn Aussie T-Shirt to better establish that their intent was to get India out of the series. Bucknor is no more a West Indian and it would be apt to call him Anti-Indian.While there has been a spate of bad umpiring decisions in this test, one that certainly incited everybody's furore was the wicket of Sourav Ganguly in the second innings of the match. Ganguly having edged the ball to second slip, stood to his ground claiming the catch was taken in half volley. The Australians were already celebrating the fall of the wicket. Mark Benson, the 13th Aussie player and so called on field umpire wasn't sure if the catch was taken neatly. What would any umpire do if he fails to arrive at a decision?? Everybody would guess that he would talk to the square leg umpire(in this case the 12th Aussie player Steve Bucknor) or refer it to the third umpire(14th Aussie Player) for the decision. In my wildest of dreams, I never thought that he would ask the opposing team captain about the decision he had to make. The interesting point to note here is that Ponting becomes the Fourth umpire. Ponting raises his finger and so does Mark Benson. Infact it would have been more appropriate to call Benson a M****y because he was just imitating what Ponting was doing.



As Sunil Gavaskar rightly said " If you ask the fielder then why not the batsman?". One certainly felt for Kumble the lone warrior against bunch of wild boars. He said that only one team played in the true spirit of the game. "If you edge the ball to the keeper and wait for umpire's decision that is different. If you edge it to the first slip and still stand off then you can see it for yourself."



The ICC noting all these happenings has added new rules to the game of cricket.

(1) Ricky Ponting - (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) will be considered as the Fourth Umpire. As per the new rule, fourth umpire decision is final and will override any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is in immediate effect, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.

(2) While the Australian team is bowling, if the ball flies anywhere close to the Australian fielder(witihin 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all means.

(3) While Australians are batting, there will be no fourth umpire, players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.

(4) Umpires will be given a huge bonus if an Australian player scores a century. If accidentally he gives a correct decision he can rectify the same in the second innings of the match.