Jhakas | Sanjay Jha
First, the encouraging news -- MSD's boys truly mastered the Sri Lankans in their own treacherous den, with a finely combined performance, bringing in the wake India's first bilateral series victory in that emerald nation. For those who wrote off the young brigade early on after their dismal debut in the first ODI, there was a lot of humble pie on the dessert table. The tables had turned 360 degrees before long, and it was quite satisfying to see the wily Muttiah Muralitharan chew his nails other than the Indian batsman's bewildered grey-cells and tearing blades for a change.
Of course, what has been truly noticeable has been the " team-work" on display; almost everyone is generously contributing. And it helps that the man at the helm of affairs, MS Dhoni, has led the bunch with cool aplomb and inspired leadership. After their convincing victory against India in the Test series, the Lankans perhaps expected a huge a mental hang-down effect on the Men in Blue. But after that rusty feeling evaporated after the initial rout, frankly, India almost hammered the Lankans with cavalier ease. Well done, boys! Continue reading below
The Champions Trophy has been unnecessarily postponed to an unknown period in 2009 by ICC. I consider this thoughtless decision of the ICC as another example of the mindless drift that it is afflicted with. The fact that Pakistan is currently politically unstable is hardly a well-concealed mystery. In these circumstances, the state becomes even more vulnerable to terrorist threats. Not surprisingly, there was another grievous bomb explosion that claimed a large number of lives even as South Africa backed out.
I have been advocating for long that the ICC should have figured out the " security climate" long before, perhaps at least three months ago. I saw this ridiculous sight of ICC bearers emerging out of the Gadaffi stadium, looking mighty pleased with themselves, as if they were emerging from a tranquil haven. It manifests their myopic comprehension of the term, security environment. If hostile elements are to attack cricketers, it is not just the playing fields which are soft targets. The whole journey, cross-roads, traffic islands, hotel lobbies, neighboring buildings, buses etc, everything is a vulnerable point, subject to surprise attacks. And this therefore requires a greater quality of inspection; in fact, ICC should have obtained a definitive assessment from reputed international intelligence agencies some time ago.
ICC could have and should have had an alternative back up ready, whether it was India or Sri Lanka or both. By postponing the Champions Trophy to next year, one has effectively robbed this once prestigious tournament of it's glossy exteriors. And by the way, what is the logic in a yearlong postponement; is there any guarantee that Pakistan will be less susceptible in 2009? Or thereafter? What happens then? Another postponement or permanent banishment?
As things stand, everyone is on a T20 wicket. Ricky Ponting believes it will be an Olympics event at some point; he may be right. But even then at over 3 hours, it could be a long drawn-out event, especially as in Olympics you cannot have just a handful of countries participating, can you? So the possibilities of cricket becoming an Olympian event rests on whether ICC or BCCI , the Big Brother, will be willing to abbreviate the game to a T-10 format. Your guess is as good as mine. In which case, I am willing to bet that China will win the gold, USA the silver and Germany the bronze.
Who says we don't live in exciting times?
