Buckenered and Bensoned !!!!
---------------------------------Srikrishna Chintalapati
Thanks to the media that never sleeps, journos who never fag, news readers who never stammer, a network that doesn't break. Me, just like any other cricket lover of India, is in receipt of this voluminous uproar, outcry and outburst about being “Bucknored and Bensoned” on the eve of second cricket test match at SCG. And that gives me yet another opportunity to bring forth my paradoxical perspectives right here.
Happy about everything-- Ricky sucks, Symonds stinks, Hogg sulks, Bhujji rocks, RP Rules, Kumble meditates, Dravid is Bucknored, Sourav is Bensoned. Oz is playing with 14 players, India is the only team to exhibit some sportive spirit, and poor umpiring prompts a serious penalization!! Yes, Thanks for everything, great inventions!!!
There are many views floating around, Gavaskar was seemingly furious, Ravi Shastry was visibly tempestuous, Harsha goes one step ahead and says " In my next life, I would like be Andrew Symonds - when you batting, ball nicks the bat and still you are alright, when you bowling, ball doesn't meets the bat still you get a wicket".
True, umpires have defeated India. Incompetent umpires need to be fired out of ICC elite panel. Our 11 heroes are as insurmountable as they are on any given day. Wasim Zaffer did a great favor to team India by scoring 3, 0 runs in two innings, Rahul Dravid did a great job by scoring 93 runs of 44 overs, Sachin fought very hard to throw his wicket again when needed, Yuvi is impeccable, Dhoni is exceptional, poor Sourav tough luck, VVS is unfortunate. Agreed!
Why are we not talking about Ricky Ponting dismissal in the first innings? Why are we not referring to the repeatedly declined appeals for Sachin, Sourav and Rahul? Why do we fail to recollect Dravid being caught on a no-ball time and again? Why can't we consider Dhoni getting caught and given a not out? Why can't we notice the huge hollos and fierce expressions of Kumble, RP, Ishant, Bhajji,. Why don’t we pity the state of an umpire among all this nonsense and their raising blood pressure minute after minute?
Why can't we have a miniscule element of empathy, compassion, understanding for this 61 year old seasoned young man, a true cricket aficionado, standing in his test match of a triple digit number, one of the most experienced & respected member of the elite panel umpires, serving literally the ‘mandatory hour’ of his cricket career! Why can't we look beyond his unusual aberrations? What must have triggered this? Is he going through a bad phase in personal life? We all talk and make noise about player burn-out, isn’t it true in case of an umpire? When a machine it self is not 100% precise, what’s with a human? When we can still warrant and live with errors in software code written by a SIX-SIGMA black belt, why are we so intolerant at this aged, exhausted, ardent servant of the game?
I understand four errors in a single game may be a little too much to accept, when three of them against the same side there is something fishy out of the invisible. But how much sure are you that the simulations are telling the truth? Snickometers are substantial? Commentators are perfectionists? Technology is invincible?
Let’s think this way! Are these opportunities gifted only to Australia and not to India? Symonds is lucky, agreed, what do we say about Brad Hogg’s 79, Brett Lee's 59? How about close to 300 runs they added to the total? A story ranges from 134 for 6 to 463 speak volumes about the character of the team, their physical, psychological and emotional strength & maturity to handle the pressure, isn’t it?
Dravid was unlucky! Right! But how many of us agree that he can build on the innings and make a big score from there? How comfortable was he on the batting crease? He got out actually and almost in all the innings for a no-ball, and still we agree he was unlucky? Leave alone Sourav, UNLUCKY Dravid, what happened to Yuvi, Dhoni-- who not only likes to ‘bat with each other’ also ‘to be gossiped about the same girl’ ! We spoke a lot about Michael Clarke's reaction after his dismissal in the second innings, then how about RP Singh's reaction after his dismissal, how about Ishant Sharma's reaction?
Finally, in a game that lasted for FIVE complete days, engulfed with so many twists-in-the tale, encompassed everything from spatting to sledging- opportunities have egressed, coherently & consistently. The best team made most of it; where as the other team was so busy in searching stimulus & scapegoats to enshroud their inefficiencies. And they successfully coined two brand new snippets to the contemporary cricket world—confused??? You are Buckenred and Bensoned!
I reckon a golden proverb mentioned by one of the great tragedians of ancient Greece
-- "Chance never helps those who do not help themselves “—Sophocles (496-406 BC)
Tuesday, January 08, 2008 | Labels: Cricket Reviews |
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