I missed the Sri Lanka and India game yesterday because of work. Story of my life lately! But I did log onto Twitter for a bit to see what was going on and I realized that I missed something very interesting. Twitterville was buzzing with opinions on the 'Randiv incident'. I couldn't wait to go back home and look it up.
When I did, it turned out that Randiv had deliberately bowled a no ball, when India needed one run to win so Sehwag would not get his 13th ODI hundred. And I thought to myself, that's it?
By the reactions of those on the internet, one would think that this was Sehwag's last ever ODI match and he was denied a glorious exit. I am sure Sehwag was at his prolific best as he often tends to be but seriously, what a fucking sorry-ass of an incident!
This has less to do with Virender Sehwag and more to do with batsmen and their continuous whining. They whine about everything. Pitches annoy them, audience members distract them, umpires give them unfair decisions, bowlers deny them centuries...hello, that's their fucking job! Just because the match is lost, he is supposed to hand you a century?
And don't give me all that crap about the 'Spirit of Cricket'. What is the Spirit of Cricket really? You can bend that law/saying/intuition/whatever it is supposed to be to make your own point. Like statistics, it is only there to serve your purpose and nothing else. Like, if this was the century that was going to take Sehwag past Sachin Tendulkar in the record books, I would have used the Spirit of Cricket bullshit to blast Randiv and condemned him for his act. See how easy that was?
And if we are so big on the Spirit of Cricket how about investing in something called the Spirit of Bowling as well? Let's not expect bowlers to pick up the slack of shitty batting performances; let's have harsh punishments for terrible fielders who drop the one fucking ball that comes to them after the bowlers have toiled for hours; let's recognize the bowler's contribution not only when he has taken wickets but also when he bowled brilliantly but remained wicket less. LET FAST BOWLERS BOUNCE THE BATSMEN! Let spinners deceive them. Make pitches...aah fuck it! That's a lost cause.
My point is, had this happened to Shane Watson, we would have all laughed and said he deserved it for being a twat. And Watson is, if you force your brain to think about it for a few seconds, a pretty talented batsman as well. We would have said that Randiv was being competitive, so why support Sehwag's whining?
Me, I am glad he got stranded on 99. Just like I support an opposition team's increased efforts to rattle a batsman when he is in the 90's, irrespective of the situation.
15 comments:
This was Lanka's attempt at turning cricket into a saas-bahu soap with their pettiness. You like it? Good for you.
You've got a point there.
What happened yesterday is not something I appreciate, but people should realise Sehwag being denied his century isn't the perfect excuse to start a World War against Sri Lanka. Surely worse stuff has happened before?
Batting under lights and now no ball controversy yawn!
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Surely worse stuff has happened before?
this is the best judgment, argument, opinion in my view... this should be implied to everything (bad) that happens from now on...
A few things Purna:
1) Sehwag hit that ball for six. This puts a different complexion on events. The scorer's rules prevented him from scoring the hundred as much as Randhiv, except the latter ensured it could not be done deliberately, apparently now either at the behest of Sangakkara or Dilshan.
2) The bowler's job isn't to prevent batsmen from scoring hundreds but rather to win the game. When all is lost, why leave a sour taste in everyone's mouth by lowering yourself to that level. Compare this Graham Gooch giving Chetan Sharma the opportunity to hit a four and reach his hundred in this match (via cricinfo commentary"). Now you don't have to do that, you can make it as hard as possible to let the opposition score the win, but why the individual achievement?
3) There is a case for saying that denying an individual achievement which will have no consequence on the match's bearing could influence a spot bet. This is very serious indeed. You can do so by bowling tight, but if the batsman is capable of scoring and you have taken away the opportunity by bowling a no-ball, then you alone have influenced this result.
4) Sehwag didn't "whine" as you put it, he initially pretty much said "thats life, thats what bowlers try to do." When he saw the replay he said it was deliberate and that Sri Lanka (who have won the spirit of cricket award for three years) have done this in the past, when Malinga bowled 4 wides to deny Sachin a hundred (he was on 96* at the time). He dismissed the incident and promptly reported on twitter that Randhiv had apologized.
5) There is a big difference in rattling a batsman who is in the 90s and this. Also you'd have to be as petty as the Lankans to laugh if it happened to Shane Watson.
If you want to know why the reaction has been so over-the-top its because many people believe Sri Lanka play this brand of cricket and find it rich that they won the Spirit of Cricket award doing this.
I think what the Lankans did was puerile, but yes "worse stuff has happened before" and it really doesn't merit all the attention its getting on all the blogs and on TV here (but then again Indian news channels have nothing better to report on anyway).
If anything, the focus should be on these crazy laws and why the batsman should be disallowed runs from a legitimate shot. There was another ridiculous moment in that game when Sehwag got bowled off the free-hit delivery, and they ended up getting a bye!
Achettup has serious words to offer! I look at it this way...
What Sri Lanka did was certainly not right! Though I do agree that I would have laughed out loud had it been Twatto at the receiving end!
But I have a problem more with the law than with what Randiv did. I don't understand why that six could not be credited to Sehwag, but the ball was still counted in his statistics!
There are issues such as Net Run Rate that get affected due to those six less runs. As I have observed in my blog (http://cricsis.blogspot.com/2010/08/six-that-did-not-count.html), what would happen if those 6 deprived runs were to result in India missing out from making it to the finals? Or worse still, those 6 runs may eliminate South Africa from entering the 2nd round of a World Cup and we will continue calling them 'chokers'!
And lastly, there is no doubt whatsoever that the media has blown this issue completely out of proportion! The matter should have come to a rest with Randiv's apology to Sehwag!
And yes, there was simply no need for the cricket boards and the ICC to poke their noses! Don't they have better business!?
Purna,
I feel this is a very big issue, as it is clearly not in the spirit of the game. Not the smartest thing to say, but do read this to see what I'm trying to get at.....
http://christopherdavid007.blogspot.com/2010/08/big-issue-with-randiv-no-ball.html
Why was no action taken when Gayle did the same against Australia at t/20 world cup. I certainly remember him bowling five wides so that Australian batsmen don't hit the winning runs.
Well,it wasn't as big as media has made out of it,but still disappointing to see it,particularly when Sri Lanka has won the ICC Spirit of Cricket award in the last year.
Randiv shouldn't have been banned. His apology to S'wag should have been enough.
pj_king, I'll look into it. Maybe when I have more time but thanks.
Ach, I get what you are saying. As petty as it was for Randiv to bowl the no ball even after the game was lost, it did not warrant the criticism Randiv got. Petty things happen in sports all the time. Batsmen take hours to take gaurd, they waste time by chit-chatting, fielding sides have long conferences in crucial situations in an attempt to waste time...all of this is petty. Why is Randiv being singled out? As for Sri Lanka winning the Spirit of Cricket award, I don't really care because I feel the concept is really vague. It needs more definition. I don't know why Sri Lanka deserve the spirit of cricket award over others, I don't support the award at all.
Also, I didn't say Sehawg whined, I said batsmen whine.
Aaaah SP, you love taking a dig at my comments, don't you? ;)
Okay, I admit that was a bit 'simplistic' again probably, but I was trying to make out that there simply has been too much hue and cry over the entire issue. And Randiv got banned now which I think shouldn't have happened either.
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