As expected, the blogosphere is buzzing with the "AFRIDI BITES BALL" controversy. I have read a lot of these blogs, and there is this one article that I found to be an interesting view. Here is the link: A Cricketing View: Ball-Tampering: Afridi v Broad.
This article talks about Stuart Broad's outrageously innocent (or innocently outrageous) remarks that he was just being too lazy in temperatures of 40 degrees centigrade. The English team's stand is compared to that of Afridi's. Afridi, atleast, admits that he made a mistake and is embarassed by it.
Lets rewind a bit. In the recent South Africa - England Test series in South Africa, Stuart Broad bowls a ball. The batsman defends it with a straight bat and the ball rolls towards the bowler. Broad, in his followthrough, steps on the ball in order to stop it from rolling any further. There are murmurs, which soon turn into whispers and then accusations, that this is the reason why the English pacers have been generating early reverse swing.
In both the cases (Broad and Afridi), I think that there will be a unanimous conclusion that the ball's condition was not affected to the extent that it will generate enormous amount of reverse swing. And in both the cases, the result of the match was not affected by the acts of the subjects.
However, if Afridi was handed a ban of 2 T20 Internationals and labelled as 'cheat', why not Stuart Broad? Is it because his father, Chris Broad, is a senior member of ICC's Elite Panel of Match Referees (as claimed by Sunil Gavaskar)? Is it just because he is English and Afridi is a Pakistani (as claimed by Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan)?
How many times have we seen varying standards in the way ICC metes out the punishments to offenders? How many times have we demanded that we want the system to be standardised? Yet, such issues keep on cropping up. No one is claiming that Afridi was right in chewing the cherry. But he was right in admitting his wrongdoings. This is where Stuart Broad erred.
I think ICC should revisit the Stuart Broad incident and announce a similar verdict to that of Afridi there. After all, stepping on the ball is a way of tampering with the ball (it has been attempted in the past by Hansie Cronje). I know that ICC, being ICC, is not going to do anything about the Broad incident. Yet, I think it is a duty of all the cricket bloggers to lodge our protests in our own silent ways.
Showing posts with label Ball Tampering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ball Tampering. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
AFRIDI'S APPETITE
A lot has happened in the international sporting arena since I posted my last blog. Roger Federer prevented Andy Murray from becoming the first Brit in more than 7 decades to win a Men's Singles Grand Slam title (in the process, he helped himself to a 16th Grand Slam title) at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Manchester United defeated Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in London to move closer to the league leaders, Chelsea. Australia completed a second whitewash over Pakistan this season (this one, admittedly, was not very easy to achieve). And yes, Afridi discovered that he has a large appetite for cricket balls.
Afridi has almost played 300 ODIs for Paksitan and also featured in a handful of Tests and T20s. He has been around for more than 13 years on the international circuit and seen many controversies from a close distance. A man (or is he still a boy) of his experience should not be attempting such stupid stunts.
He has been banned for the next two T20 Internationals that Pakistan is scheduled to play - one against Australia (that will end this disastrous tour for them) and one against England in the UAE. What interests me here is that recently, Dhoni was banned for 2 ODIs due to his team's slow over rate. Does this mean that ICC qualifies slow over rate and ball tampering as equal offences?
I know that in terms of punishments, ICC equates 1 Test ban to a 2 ODI ban (which is reasonable in my view). But now, they are equating 1 T20 International to an ODI. I do not think that's correct. Despite having seen 2 World Cups, I do not think that international T20 fixtures have acquired the same level of seriousness as an ODI or a Test.
I am just trying to say that Afridi should count himself lucky at having gotten away with a 2 T20 Internationals ban. It could have been much worse for him. Hopefully, this is a lesson learnt for him and he will come back with a greater appetite (for runs and wickets, not cricket balls).
Oh my God! I am simply speechless (and that's not because I have a ball in my mouth). I don't understand how on earth does Pakistan cricket find so many innovative ways of landing themselves into controversies. And I'll tell you the funniest bit in this incident is an act of a Sri Lankan, not a Pakistani. Asoka De Silva, the umpire, after taking the ball from Afridi for inspection, was trying to smell the ball. Don't tell me that he knows which toothpaste is Afridi using!
Afridi has almost played 300 ODIs for Paksitan and also featured in a handful of Tests and T20s. He has been around for more than 13 years on the international circuit and seen many controversies from a close distance. A man (or is he still a boy) of his experience should not be attempting such stupid stunts.
He has been banned for the next two T20 Internationals that Pakistan is scheduled to play - one against Australia (that will end this disastrous tour for them) and one against England in the UAE. What interests me here is that recently, Dhoni was banned for 2 ODIs due to his team's slow over rate. Does this mean that ICC qualifies slow over rate and ball tampering as equal offences?
I know that in terms of punishments, ICC equates 1 Test ban to a 2 ODI ban (which is reasonable in my view). But now, they are equating 1 T20 International to an ODI. I do not think that's correct. Despite having seen 2 World Cups, I do not think that international T20 fixtures have acquired the same level of seriousness as an ODI or a Test.
I am just trying to say that Afridi should count himself lucky at having gotten away with a 2 T20 Internationals ban. It could have been much worse for him. Hopefully, this is a lesson learnt for him and he will come back with a greater appetite (for runs and wickets, not cricket balls).
Oh my God! I am simply speechless (and that's not because I have a ball in my mouth). I don't understand how on earth does Pakistan cricket find so many innovative ways of landing themselves into controversies. And I'll tell you the funniest bit in this incident is an act of a Sri Lankan, not a Pakistani. Asoka De Silva, the umpire, after taking the ball from Afridi for inspection, was trying to smell the ball. Don't tell me that he knows which toothpaste is Afridi using!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
