Cricket's demise?

Finally, the Indian team is coming back after a rather acrimonious tour of Australia.  Many things happened – specially to the spinner Sardar – Harbhajan Singh.  He was slapped a racism charge and soon every pseudo and his brother in India started self beating and denounced India and our culture.  As if what was said to Harbhajan and the process by which he was FRAMED was all justified.

Frankly, the Australians have an issue with the off-spinners.  First it was Murlitharan of Sri Lanka and now our guy.  Or maybe its anyone who stands up to their bullying.

If just the players were into this nonsense it was still understandable, but what surprised was that an entire part of the crowd first said some pretty unspeakable things to Harbhajan and then tried to frame him once more!  I can understand one player or two feeling the insecurity but here was a strange case of not only the team but a nation feeling insecure of itself.

That they were thrashed in the One Day cricket in their own house did not help matters at all.  Then Matthew Hayden comes out with some pretty stupid and moronic comments on Harbhajan again… clearly showing his insecurities.

In the end, the game of cricket has suffered.  These past two months, cricket as we know was quietly but surely put into a coffin.  The UGLY and UNCOUTH Australians, the BCCI’s IPL drama and the partisanship and utter racism of the Match Refrees and ICC effectively put this once enjoyable game to rest.

The coming generation will never know that there was a time when people could bat like Sunil Gavaskar once did – that batting could be an art.  They would never know the guile with which a Prasanna could bowl poetry in the name of Off Spinners and outthink a batsman!  Heck, even the sublime strokes of Ganguly or an Azhar would be hard to come by in the shorter version.

Time for some tea?  The match will be over by then, sir!