Friday, May 2, 2008

Controversy Number 2 for the IPL

After the Harbhajan-Sreesanth slapping incident, the second controversy of the Indian Premier League will be making the headlines soon. Or it already is maybe.

It all started when Saurav Ganguly pulled Yusuf Pathan towards mid wicket off the last ball of the 13th over in Kolkata Knight Rider's match against the Rajhastan Royals.

Ganguly's pull sailed to mid wicket and Greame Smith running towards it dived forward at the last second and caught the ball before it hit the ground.

Or did he?

Smith jumped up celebrating the dismissal with the entire Royals' team high fiving him, but at the wicket Ganguly was gesturing to the umpire that the catch was not taken cleanly.

On Ganguly's insistence the on-field umpire referred it to the 3rd umpire who surprisingly gave Ganguly not out. I have no idea how Asad Rauf did not see the ball go cleanly into Smith's hands.

Warne was furious when he saw the "NOT OUT" on the big screen and rightly so. Warne shared a few words with the umpire and when he came on to bowl the next over also made a few remarks at Ganguly with a wry smile on his face. I don't know what was said, but it wasn't pleasant definitely.

Justice was served when Warne had Ganguly caught at long on in the same over. But more was to follow at the post match conference.


This is what Warne had to say:

"I was disappointed because in Bangalore we signed that wall about the spirit of cricket,...If an international captain like Graeme Smith caught it and said it was a clean catch and Rudi Koertzen said he caught it, easy... And anyway, the players aren't allowed to ask for the umpire. But Sourav asked the Indian umpire to go to the TV replay. That's not in the spirit of the game so I was very, very disappointed with Sourav."

Ganguly as we all know isn't the sort who stays quiet. And he responded by saying:

"Is complaining against a dropped catch against the spirit of the game? We just need to look at Warne's career to understand that he has no moral right to teach what the spirit of the game is. I just want to laugh at what Warne is saying. He should not be talking about the spirit of the game. I told him [the umpire, GA Pratapkumar] the catch was not taken cleanly. Referring to the third umpire was his decision."

Now what morals is Ganguly talking about? When has Shane Warne ever gone against the spirit of the game on the field? Please remind me If I'm forgetting something. And if Ganguly is referring to taking drugs or sending lewd text messages to British nurses or dangling with bookies, then I'd tell him that these off the field activities have nothing to do with the spirit with which you play the game.

Shane Warne was right. Greame Smith was right. Saurav Ganguly was wrong.

Did you see the catch? Whats your take on it?

The Indian Premier League just got more interesting.

Picture courtesy http://photos.cricket.com/main the exclusive supplier of cricket photos to the IPL.

Make your pitch on this post...



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27 Pitched:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    Now I personally would walk as I am not someone you claims false catches myself when In the field and look for honesty in others.

    However Ganguly in this instance may be using himself as a reference when it comes to claiming catches therefore doubts the honesty in others.
    See this video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoc_RqY6yws

    In saying that there is always two sides to a story. Ganguly could be also having in his mind that Warne and his team mates are not always honest them selves.
    See these video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C418rwYAmU

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi_t10pGN5g

    Now to the point of Spirit of the game, let me start by saying that both Shane Warne and Saurav Ganguly are as bad as each other. Both of them are fierce competitors and very often cross the line when it comes to spirit of the game. That is why they get angry at each other as they see characteristics of themselves in each other.

    Warne
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZrmD8bVza0

    Ganguly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=861dNjvXk_k&feature=related


    Let me remind you that Cricket Australia's “Spirit of the game” propaganda Speaks about On Field, off Field behaviour and respect for your team, your opponents and Family.

    http://cricket.com.au/_content/document/00000056-src.pdf

    All of which Shane Warne has breached numerously when playing for his country.
    We cannot merely dismiss these incidents as off field
    -Associating with " John The book Maker"
    -The laughable my mum gave me a dieretic.
    -Bringing the game into disrepute fine for comments about Arjuna.
    -Not mention the verbal banter that accelerates when his figures are down

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Warne#Controversies

    I don’t blame Ganguly for being reluctant about taking advise from Warnie about the spirit of the game. To do that would be like taking anger management lessons from Harbajan

  2. Anonymous said...
     

    Just editing my first post slightly
    My First paragraph should Read like this

    Now I personally would walk as I am not someone who claims false catches myself.Furthermore when In the field Ilook for honesty in others.

  3. Anonymous said...
     

    Australians talking about spirit of game is akin to devil quoting scriptures. If the third umpire, after examining the catch from all angles, declared Saurav not out, who are we to question that decision? Isn't questioning the third umpire's decision against the spirit of the game? I wish Shane Warne keeps his big mouth shut.

  4. Anonymous said...
     

    Of course Ganguly was out. I bet he knew it, too.

    However, he knew he had a good chance at getting away with it. Being Ganguly, he took the advantage.

    Warne and Ganguly are both strong in the art of psychological warfare, although their methods are different. Warne isn't in the habit of walking, either.

    Of course, I was yelling at the screen, telling Ganguly he was a wanker for lording it over the umpire with his irritating sense of entitlement. But really, I sort of love to hate the guy.

    I also love it when Warney gets indignant, because along comes a wicket. Justice.

  5. Jrod said...
     

    Who cares, Ganguly went out next over.

  6. Anonymous said...
     

    Ganguly's team also lost the match.

    A poor record would incite someone to say things like that in a press conference.

    The King's men seem to have fallen on hard times lately.

  7. Anonymous said...
     

    To be fair, what Ganguly also said was that in many cases, it is not easy for the fielder to tell if he has taken the catch cleanly. I think that's a valid point. Looking at the videos that DeSilva has linked to, one can make a case that in all three situations, the fielder did not know that the ball had bounced. I suppose though that many Aussies would say that Ganguly was clearly cheating and Indians the same regarding Slater and Hayden. (The divide is already reflected in the comments here.)

    Having said all this, I don't think Ganguly should have said anything to the umpire after he was given out and just accepted the decision. Just as well, he was out next over.

    I also don't understand why the umpire, Pratapkumar, felt it necessary to refer the matter to the third umpire after Ganguly complained. A case of showing deference to Dada? Not surprising that India has no representation in the ICC's elite panel of umpires.

    Btw, you have misspelled Graeme Smith's name.

  8. Anonymous said...
     

    The entire fact that Ganguly's complaint was referred to the umpire for referral shows that not even the umpires take this game as seriously as 20-20 tournaments organized elsewhere in the world.

    An umpire listening to a player is a very bizarre turn of events. Might as well have every batsman challenge the umpires authority in the very close to call situations.

    Imagine this: *Huge lbw appeal goes up and said batsman is given out*
    *Batsman walks up to the umpire, says it was going a bit high in his favor*
    *Umpire refers Hawkeye and delivery is slightly high*
    *Batsman re-takes the crease*

    It sounds a bit weak on page, but if it happened in an actual match and the umpire gave into such a request, would one not see all the batsmen in the IPL bully around the umpires?

  9. Som said...
     

    Q, be whatever. I propose Lalit Modi and Sourav Ganguly's name for joint Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2008.

    Modi made Shane Warne and Smith share the same dressing room and Ganguly even bettered it, by having Warne vouching for Smith's integrity. Hail IPL.

  10. Anonymous said...
     

    oh please. whoever wrote this blog needs to get a reality check.... GANGULY was right, tv umpires said he was right, he had every reason to doubt the ball hit the ground, and he was right.... why do people believe the words of people like smith or warne i will never know. warney is a great magician with the ball, but dont forget about warneys drug taking, and match fixing scandals he has been involved......

  11. NAzhar said...
     

    Those passing judgements on the spirit of the game should keep in mind the spirit of making comments and listening to the other point of view.

  12. NAzhar said...
     

    A batsman should be allowed to stand his ground if he feels he is not out. An umpire who is absolutely sure would not need to refer to the 3rd umpire. If the umpire refers to the 3rd umpire then there is some doubt. No umpire will get every decision right; having technology gets us close to the 100% mark.

    As for the post match comments - I think that is just two fierce and talented competitors speaking their mind and getting us the fans involved in discussions like this :-)

  13. KC said...
     

    anonymous ... you must be one of those passionate ganguly supporters who must be planning an effigy burning protest for Q's blog, and warne's complaints.
    grow up man, woman or whoever the fuck you are - get a name, and a life while we are at it.

  14. Anonymous said...
     

    Following my own comment (anonymous @ 1:01 am), I note from cricinfo that Ganguly has been docked 10% of his match fee while the umpire, Pratapkumar, has been suspended.

    There are so many issues for the BCCI to address - badly behaved players, poor quality of pitches, badly trained umpires, poor renumeration to domestic players - and still they do very little!

  15. Q said...
     

    Desilva - thank you for the great links. It does put Gangulys comment about Shane Warne's spirit into perspective.

    Either way I still feel that Ganguly should not have questioned the umpire once he was given out.

    Anonymous @ 1:18AM has given a great example as to why Ganguly should not have questioned it.

  16. Q said...
     

    Uncle J - sure he did, but it didn't stop Warne and Ganguly from attacking each other in the press conference.

  17. Q said...
     

    Krishna, u urself are saying that questioning the 3rd umpires decision is against the spirit of the game. Then Ganguly questioning the on field umpire is definitely against the spirit of the game.

  18. Q said...
     

    SOM - well said man. Again as I always say, the beauty of the IPL.

  19. Q said...
     

    Anonymous @ 3:23am. Thanks for the reality check buddy. How can I believe someone like Warne and Smith? One is a drug taking, wife cheating, gambling leg spinner while the other is a spineless captain.

    So u reckon I trust Ganguly? The man with no respect for any opposition member, no respect for any seniors in his team, no respect for board officials, and none for his coach.

    Well that made the Indian umpire listen to him. So why shouldn't we. Right?

  20. Q said...
     

    And to the anonymous person who swore his head off here. Thank you for sharing your spirit :-)

    Thanks Nazhar and KC.

  21. Anonymous said...
     

    Warne was overheard on the stump microphone saying, “Justice will catch up with you one day, Sourav”.

    It was prophetic as Warne snared his wicket with the next ball he bowled to him.

    Leaving aside all the moralising it was a magic instant karma moment.

  22. Q said...
     

    If that is what Warne said Nesta, I'd say simply brilliant!!

  23. Anonymous said...
     

    You persist in spelling the South African captain's name wrong...

  24. Q said...
     

    Anon - But I didn't spell it again :-) Apologies for the error in the main post. Will take note next time.

  25. Anonymous said...
     

    Hey Q,

    Thanks for the props in the previous post.

    Most Ganguly supporters are incredibly passionate about him. Even that umpire probably just wanted to witness Ganguly succeed so much that he gave him an extra life. Or the umpire could just be an avid SRK fan and did not want to let him down. Whatever the case one should not be allowed to counter the decision of the umpire. It is just unheard of. If any Ganguly supporters here think he has the right to should go back to burning effigies.

    Too bad Warne prove why he deserves as much respect as other players of the game give him. Ganguly needs to learn his place.

  26. Anonymous said...
     

    edit to above post

    I was the anonymous posting at 1:18 AM.

  27. Q said...
     

    Haha, too many anony comments here. I've seen how passionate people can be about Ganguly. I don't know if you read a few comments that I deleted - they didn't like me questioning Ganguly at all and were expressive abt it.

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