India's Defeat is of Their Own Making

[Dhondy]

Yup, I know I won't be on many people's Christmas list next year, but what the hell, as if I care! There are several uncomfortable questions to be asked. Firstly us, the fans- do we hold ourselves to the same standards that we demand from umpires, players...other fans? How many of you were jumping up and down when Sreesanth was not given out despite being plumb to Monty in the Lords Test last year? Who knows what would have happened had England won that Test match? As it is, the decision allowed India to hold out for a draw, and England never recovered. Sangakkara got a similar decision in the recent series against Australia. At that point anything was possible. SL might have pulled off a series levelling win had Sanga been allowed to stay, an event that would have been as momentous as, say, the Aussies winning 16 in a row. Funny, I didn't see calls for all of us to write in to the ICC then? Or is it because it was only SL? Does anybody remember the decision against Kasper that sealed the 2005 Ashes? His hand was off the bat, yet he was given out in a schoolboy umpiring error, a decision that cost the Aussies a proud record they had held for two decades. Did I hear a cacophony of protests on this board? Calls for boycott of future tours? Now, when umpiring errors have gone against us, we are aggrieved, are we? We all knew Bucknor's record coming into this match. Why didn't we protest against his exclusion then? It's not as if we didn't know that he'd screw us...he's done it every time he's had the chance in the last 10 years, starting from that negated run out against Cullinan in SA to the 2004 Sydney Test. Why did we then wait till he had another opportunity to finger us? By raising a threnody of wailing now, we come across as nothing but a bunch of losers, who seek to degrade the opposition's moment of glory to make ourselves feel better. OTOH, had we voiced our reservations officially before the match, given what has followed, we could have turned back to the ICC and lambasted them for not paying heed to our concerns. Opportunity lost. But that's not all. It's amazing to see that Australian cricketers are being branded as cheats because they appealed for a bump catch, stood their ground after nicking the ball, or claimed a deflection off the pad as a catch. Right, so we have never resorted to these kind of tactics before, eh? Off the top of my head, I can remember at least two occasions when Ganguly claimed a bump catch in recent series, and several occasions when nicks from Indian batsmen went unnoticed while they stood their ground. Don't recall the integrity of our players being questioned then? The point is, international cricket is a high stakes, winner-takes-all contest. There are million dollar deals up for grabs. Players are under pressure to perform, and know that the difference between a successful career and penury could be a line as thin as being given a second chance at the crease. Under the circumstances, it's naive to expect them to be honest or forthright. Joh jeeta, wohi sikander. May I suggest that India wouldn't have landed in this situation, but for their ham-handed decision making? Their steadfast reliance on a failed opening pair, championing of a mediocre spin bowler because of his record against one particular batsman, the selectorial idiocy of flogging the fast bowlers to death in inconsequential ODIs, and their board's supreme avarice in leaving the side with no preparation time before a vitally important series, were all follies that deserved to be punished, and duly have been. Finally, it would be prudent to recognize that you make your own luck. And the way you do that is by winning. The more you win, the more gilded your reputation becomes, and umpires suconsciously make a note of your success. It's a situation the Aussies find themselves in by ruthlessly decimating all before them over the last decade or so. Which umpire dare give a marginal decision against them? Do you buck the odds when you are unsure at work, or do you take the safe option? Ask yourself. India had the chance to win convincingly against England and Pakistan and come into this series with a burgeoning reputation on the back of 2-0 victories against major opposition, and as the unequivocal second placed side, a record that would have given the umpires something to think about. On both occasions, they chose the safety first approach to preserve what they had. That conservative approach is now coming home to roost. Must say that we are one of the worst bunch of fans at taking defeat. I don't recall a match where we have introspected and looked inwards to address our own deficiencies to the exclusion of extraneous influences. It's always the umpires, the conditions, or the conniving opposition. We are shamelessly opportunistic and practitioners of double and triple atandards. I can only hope that the blokes who represent us out in the middle don't think like us.

[Anakin]

There you go! You do know SRT and SCG were repeatedly screwed in Eng tour, but you have to point out one SS incident. Sorry but couldn't read the rest.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Anakin]

We don't need to brand Ponting as cheat, ICC did the exact same thing against Latif, but I'm sure you can come up with some eloquent BS

[observer1]

got the chain wrapped around your thigh doc? turn it tighter. i am usually in agreement with you on most things, and even now, believe that winners in sport hunt like animals - you cant blame the attitude towards appealing. what most folks here are concerned about is the number of howlers (not one, but at least four) and the grating holier-than-thou attitude of their captain

[kabira]

BS Doc, we all complained and all indian fans want technology pronto..

[Sachinism]

There you go! You do know SRT and SCG were repeatedly screwed in Eng tour, but you have to point out one SS incident. Sorry but couldn't read the rest.

exactly no need to apologize to him, im sure the rest was garbage too

[Uthappa Rocks]

Get real we had over 10 wrong decisions in this match, and some were just plainly idiocity like not susing the 3rd ump for the stumping

[Anakin]

Don't bother, this kind of self righteousness in the exactly the reason for the way things are. So in a way he's right.

[kabira]

did Doc have dinner with Merc?

[Anakin]

did Doc have dinner with Merc?

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[talksport]

The OP is blasphemy

[DesiChap]

Doc you had one too many. You have been poisoned

[CC1981]

Well written, Doc. Sad fact is, neither the Indian fans, nor the Indian team knows what it takes to beat the best (Australia). yes, the scales are tilted in Australia's favour- the dominant team ALWAYS gets the better of 50-50 calls. Whining about it is not going to change it. A good read would be Clive Lloyd's biography, when he took charge of the team and got pasted 5-1 in Australia. After that, he was convinced it'd take something special to win and he came up with the formula: pace like fire and don't let the ball touch your pad (thereby taking lbw out of the equation!) the next time they played Australia. He told his boys that they are up against 13 men- tough beans, life isn't fair but what are we going to do about it and how do we win from here ? That is the kind of mindset required to beat the best of the best or teams with a long record of being a$$es like the Aussies. And that is exactly what the Indian team and its fans lack- we clamour for a perfect world and perfect level field to 'beat the aussies' instead of just taking it in stride and beating them DESPITE of their advantage. 'When the going gets tough, the tough gets going' - Indian cricketers and Indian fans simply have no concept of this. Their modus operandi is ' when the going gets tough, we clamour like chickens pointing out 2348932084 criterias against us'.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[jf1gp_1]

Yup, I know I won't be on many people's Christmas list next year, but what the hell, as if I care! There are several uncomfortable questions to be asked. Firstly us, the fans- do we hold ourselves to the same standards that we demand from umpires, players...other fans? How many of you were jumping up and down when Sreesanth was not given out despite being plumb to Monty in the Lords Test last year? Who knows what would have happened had England won that Test match? As it is, the decision allowed India to hold out for a draw, and England never recovered. Sangakkara got a similar decision in the recent series against Australia. At that point anything was possible. SL might have pulled off a series levelling win had Sanga been allowed to stay, an event that would have been as momentous as, say, the Aussies winning 16 in a row. Funny, I didn't see calls for all of us to write in to the ICC then? Or is it because it was only SL? Does anybody remember the decision against Kasper that sealed the 2005 Ashes? His hand was off the bat, yet he was given out in a schoolboy umpiring error, a decision that cost the Aussies a proud record they had held for two decades. Did I hear a cacophony of protests on this board? Calls for boycott of future tours? Now, when umpiring errors have gone against us, we are aggrieved, are we? We all knew Bucknor's record coming into this match. Why didn't we protest against his exclusion then? It's not as if we didn't know that he'd screw us...he's done it every time he's had the chance in the last 10 years, starting from that negated run out against Cullinan in SA to the 2004 Sydney Test. Why did we then wait till he had another opportunity to finger us? By raising a threnody of wailing now, we come across as nothing but a bunch of losers, who seek to degrade the opposition's moment of glory to make ourselves feel better. OTOH, had we voiced our reservations officially before the match, given what has followed, we could have turned back to the ICC and lambasted them for not paying heed to our concerns. Opportunity lost. But that's not all. It's amazing to see that Australian cricketers are being branded as cheats because they appealed for a bump catch, stood their ground after nicking the ball, or claimed a deflection off the pad as a catch. Right, so we have never resorted to these kind of tactics before, eh? Off the top of my head, I can remember at least two occasions when Ganguly claimed a bump catch in recent series, and several occasions when nicks from Indian batsmen went unnoticed while they stood their ground. Don't recall the integrity of our players being questioned then? The point is, international cricket is a high stakes, winner-takes-all contest. There are million dollar deals up for grabs. Players are under pressure to perform, and know that the difference between a successful career and penury could be a line as thin as being given a second chance at the crease. Under the circumstances, it's naive to expect them to be honest or forthright. Joh jeeta, wohi sikander. May I suggest that India wouldn't have landed in this situation, but for their ham-handed decision making? Their steadfast reliance on a failed opening pair, championing of a mediocre spin bowler because of his record against one particular batsman, the selectorial idiocy of flogging the fast bowlers to death in inconsequential ODIs, and their board's supreme avarice in leaving the side with no preparation time before a vitally important series, were all follies that deserved to be punished, and duly have been. Finally, it would be prudent to recognize that you make your own luck. And the way you do that is by winning. The more you win, the more gilded your reputation becomes, and umpires suconsciously make a note of your success. It's a situation the Aussies find themselves in by ruthlessly decimating all before them over the last decade or so. Which umpire dare give a marginal decision against them? Do you buck the odds when you are unsure at work, or do you take the safe option? Ask yourself. India had the chance to win convincingly against England and Pakistan and come into this series with a burgeoning reputation on the back of 2-0 victories against major opposition, and as the unequivocal second placed side, a record that would have given the umpires something to think about. On both occasions, they chose the safety first approach to preserve what they had. That conservative approach is now coming home to roost. Must say that we are one of the worst bunch of fans at taking defeat. I don't recall a match where we have introspected and looked inwards to address our own deficiencies to the exclusion of extraneous influences. It's always the umpires, the conditions, or the conniving opposition. We are shamelessly opportunistic and practitioners of double and triple atandards. I can only hope that the blokes who represent us out in the middle don't think like us.

Best thing i read on this forum. Every single line hits the target :two_thumbs_up:

[veer]

yeah.. didnt read the whole article after first two lines.. forget abt it ehhh!!

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[CC1981]

Care to stand scrutiny and cross questioning or you going to run-away like the Doc ...

Don;t call on others to stand on scrutiny unless you yourself can. Last i checked, you ran away from questions posed to you in the politics forum, mate. You have no authority to scrutinize anyone since you failed that test yourself. This is a free forum- people are entitled to express their opinions without being scrutinized. You aint the dictator of this forum that people will have to stand your scrutiny.

[Captain of Bhangra]

Dhondy, in that England series, there were errors for and against us, and from what I remember, more were against us (so it didn't even out), but I'd still take that over this Test where we got screwed with more major 'blunders', and didn't get anything at all in return... Sorry, but for once, it's not the team's fault. Admittedly we could have done better at some stages, but we received 3 huge blows that could each have changed the game by themselves, let alone in conjunction...