Show some sportsmanship Brian Lara!
I had got into a habit of missing the ‘controversial’ things which happen sometimes in Cricket. But not tonight in the first test match of the India-WI test series. Indians were in search of some quick runs before declaring, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni came to the rescue. Dhoni hits half a dozen of sixes! And then gets ‘caught’ near the boundary. It was referred to the third umpire for confirmation. The video footage was unconclusive and the decision making was left to the onfield umpires, after all the discussion between the umpires, players and the umpires, players and players, Asad Rauf finally decided to move on with the game with Dhoni being not out. Brian Lara obviously didnt like the decision by the looks on his face. Lara continued to remain adamant and confronted to Dhoni even after the ‘decision’ was made for the time being.
What was Lara doing after that? Taking the ball and walking away? I have no clue. Dhoni obviously was right in staying on the field. If there is no conclusive footage that the batsman is out, the decision is supposed to go in the Batsman favour. Obviously, gone are the days when player admits that he has taken the catch cleanly to give a batsman out.
The fate of the Dhoni’s hit was still uncertain till they got back to the pavilion. The decision eventually came out that Dhoni was caught within the boundary and declared out with no direct conclusive evidence. Anyways, seeing the things get so messy onfield, Dravid decided to call it off and declare the innings rightly seeing the larger interest.
I just want to know how can Brian Lara challenge the umpires decision? What is the point confronting Dhoni after umpire has already asked the players to move on with the game.
Meanwhile, Indians have lost some precious time in the game and are frankly 30-40 runs short of what could have washed all chances of a West Indian win!
June 6th, 2006 at 11:57 am
I think we needed a captain like Ponting in this situation. Would Ponting have declared?
June 10th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Just to clear a few things..Although the decision first made by asad n simon was to move on with the play, later on they gave it to the players..Lara and dhoni were asked to sort it amongst themself ,which although wrong in IMO,dint matter in the end..Period.
June 10th, 2006 at 11:09 pm
Cricket is bigger than players. Umpires once asked to move on with the game, so the case should be. Is Lara bigger than the rules of the game? And Dhoni accepting the fielders decision only after reaching the pavilion. There was no decision made while they were on the field. so its pretty obvious something went on backstage.
And well as far as the didnt matter thing goes, That 15 minutes stopage in the end turned out to be the deciding factor isnt it?