Champions strike back

What a strong response from the Aussies when everyone thought they would struggle in SA. They have come back strongly and made a statement of sorts to everyone who questioned their superiority. There was that period of uncertainty when the new team had not settled in and the old boys had hung up their boots. If SA had maintained the intensity and hit them hard at that time things would have been different. Now they have a few of their regulars coming back and the confidence can only go up. Hats off to Ricky Ponting too, for surviving this critical period and pulling his team out of the mini crisis.

A sad day for Pakistan Cricket

Today’s events in Lahore will deal a devastating blow to competitive international cricket in Pakistan for a good 2-3 years. The Pakistan government is imminently responsible for letting this happen in broad day light and it was their responsibility to ensure that the visitors were well protected. I get the feeling that the government or the lack of it in Pakistan is letting the militancy grow rather rapidly. They have to take control of their destiny and reinforce some order of law and unless they show some stern actions the country will be ruined.

As cricket lovers all of us are going to miss some genuinely talented and controversial cricketers from this country.

Bucknor decides to retire, Indians celebrate!!

The nemesis of the Indian Test team and Sachin Tendulkar in particular, Steve Bucknor has decided to call it a day after the SA-Australia series. That piece of news must have caused a mini celebration in the Indian camp currently in NZ. Bucknor never embraced the technology and the options available to him to make good decisions but rather stuck to his old fashioned ways of umpiring. As the age caught up with him and the technology improved, his mistakes became glaringly visible. He was not called Silent Death for nothing.

He was instrumental in quite a few dubious decisions against the India team and specifically against Sachin. In my opinion his worst decision was the not out verdict for a caught behind appeal against Symonds in the infamous Sydney test. Then there is another one against Sachin in Pakistan where he ruled him out in fading light when the fielding team also could not have seen the ball. And there is another one where the ball hit Sachin on the shoulder and he was ruled OUT. He also had reported Rahul Dravid for ball tampering. The list goes on and on.

I think the quality of cricket umpiring can only improve with his departure. Also the Indian batsmen can now walk freely to the crease and not have their innings short circuited by Mr. Bucknor.