There was a
time when I wished Australia to lose the series badly. You know the reason, but
now, after the incidents in the Ongoing Investec Bank Ashes contest, I feel
pity for them. The root for all these problems started when Australia toured
India early this year, they lost the series badly. Now when I mean badly, I
mean they were humiliated by the home team, a whitewash! Can you imagine?
Australia though had new players in its line-up, the hunger to win could not be
found in them. They were ready to learn and they did learn, but it was little
late as India had the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in its Hall of Fame already.
All
throughout the series, it was evident that Australia was even more concerned
with the Ashes than their current one. That is not a good approach, especially
for a team which had tasted victories more than anyone else and had dominated
the world of cricket for years. Ashes is something prestigious, no series can
equal the intensity of an Ashes, some would say. That’s all valid but not at
the expense of losing the team’s confidence level ahead of what is considered
to be one of the fiercest rivalries ever. Thereby even before the first ball of
Ashes was bowled, most of us knew Australia were underprepared compared to the
witty English, who played like Kings on their home ground. So then started the
first test which our Aussie team lost by a narrow margin, thanks to DRS.
Decision Review System introduced in cricket to eliminate errors made in the
Umpiring decisions did bring in with itself a wide range of criticism after the
first test. I guess it is high time we find a system to rectify the mistakes of
the DRS. But wait! Why do we need systems? Third umpire for finding out ‘OUT’
or ‘NOT OUT’ during hard run-out or stumping is fine, but why do we need to
correct the umpire’s mistakes? The reason being, Humans commit mistakes! But
the one who holds the bat with more protective guards than a fire engineer or
the one who bowls at 140 kmph running from the pavilion are also humans, aren’t
they? So this is what they evolution? They say we need to get adapted to the
modern technologies, even the controversial Duckworth-Lewis system is not
understood by many including the bright minds on earth. Alright, leaving aside
D/L for now, this DRS thing included in itself a technology call Hot-Spot,
which is where the English got it’s breeze of luck and went on to win the match
and the series. As I write this, England retain the Ashes with a 2-1 victory
over Australia with still a match to go. Every time the players on the field
are not happy with the umpire’s decision, they raise their hands in a ‘T’ like
structure, meaning they need to review , there comes first Slap for the umpire.
After consulting the Third umpire, when the decision is found to be wrong, you
will find one of the world’s best umpires laying down their head ashamed and
their hands in an X like formation with a
‘ I am sorry fellas, I was wrong and your technology was right’ look on
his face. My question is then why have umpires in the ground? Give the
technology its full freedom and let’s see how well it goes. Cricket having been
invented to have fun, among humans I suppose, is losing its charm. We can
accept technology in the game, but not at the cost of the very reason it was
found for. We cannot continue to them when its liability has been questioned in
the recent days. At least invent technologies which are completely reliable! Am
afraid , if this continues, we will soon find all Robots playing a T20 at the
Lords while the humans start holding the ‘OUT’ or ‘NOT OUT’ banners or placards
in place of the big screen! God save the game!
