Wisdom recycled from television

BY Darius Nakhoonwala| IN Opinion | 10/01/2008

You don¿t say!

Darius Nakhoonwala

Cricket is a wonderful game. This writer was a reasonably good exponent of its arts at a fairly high level, even though only for a couple of years. So while he was hugely pleased to see every major newspaper – yes, every – hold forth on the current controversies emanating from Australia, he was equally hugely pained to see how uninformed the edits were. It would have been far better if the leader writers had asked their sports editors to write about the details rather than tapping out a quick 400 or so words of wisdom recycled from TV. So while usually this column focuses on what the edits actually said, this time I will point out with, as was famously said once, languor in my heart, all that was not said.

First of all, it needed to be pointed out, right at the beginning of the edit (beyond which few readers venture) that the fault was that of the ICC which has taken on-field spats off-field. The moment you do this, you reduce the chances of an amicable resolution by 99 per cent. The edits did criticize the ICC but not for this. This showed an ignorance of detail.

Second, it needed to be pointed out – and Business Standard was the only one to do so – that the roots of persistent rude behaviour by the Australians go back two decades. That was when Allan Border, the new Australian captain decided as follows: " I made a personal choice to have a harder edge as captain, be more stand-offish towards them (the English) ... It was a hard thing to do and they all got the shits, but it was all part and parcel of what I wanted to achieve." Rickey Ponting was only carrying on a tradition.

Third, the reader needed to be reminded that that when first Saurav Ganguly and more recently Srisanth, started giving it back to the Australians measure for measure – which is what Harbhajan has also done – most Indian newspapers were sharply critical of their conduct. So much so that the BCCI dropped Srisanth from the team as a disciplinary measure! When have the Australians ever dropped anyone for anything except form? Never having played proper cricket, the leader writers wailed like cissies that this was not how cricket should be played. True, but abuse and sledging are part of the game. However, the same rules apply to both sides. The Aussies don¿t think so, though. Having criticized the Indians then, our leader writers are criticizing the Aussies now. Doesn¿t anyone refer to the earlier edits any longer?

Fourth, no one pointed out the idiocies of the TV commentators. Two of them, at least, went completely overboard and were mainly responsible for fueling the fire in India to the point of 90 per cent of the fans asking the team to return home immediately. So may I ask, Excellencies, considering your edits were all based on TV wisdom, none of you wrote even a line about the commentators?

Fifth, but not last because I can go on forever, no one even as much mentioned a possibility that has been worrying the cricket authorities for several years now but about which there is a complete conspiracy of silence. This is the likelihood of umpires being induced in some way or another, especially in important matches. Fixing has known to happen in cricket as well as other sports but usually it is the players who are blamed. But whoever said that they were the only ones who could be blamed?

I rest my case that leader writers failed their readers on this occasion.