Judgment vs Experience !

Another interesting topic of discussion from Jim Heskett. Should grab that book sometime soon and some of the comments were really thought provoking. Here is the link with my comments too. Does Judgment trump Experience?

Bottomline...

Bottom-line...

Not sure if Sydney ever figured in the conversations of fellow Indians this much. Neither could I recollect a test match being torn apart by pundits across the board. Few questions do linger on why all these happened in the first place.

Why did the Aussies go after Harbhajan? Why do the Aussies think it is a war against India? Things appeared to be on smooth sail with Brett Lee having more fan-following in Mumbai than Melbourne and not so long ago did the BCCI lined-up the Aussie greats of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath for its much touted IPL to rival the ICL. What has changed so drastically that would make the world champions relish a win so much so that they un-gentlemanly ignored to shake hands with the opponent, who was dragging himself out of the arena in sheer disbelief on how life could become so fickle all in a matter of 5 deliveries. Sixteen consecutive wins – alright! But the frenzy that followed after the last wicket was sheer madness – much more than a world cup final victory.

I think, all this ill will and bad blood could be traced back to the T20 world cup. The Aussies just could not believe that some other team could be anointed the World Champions on any format of the game. The win has just not settled on them and neither could they believe that they have to relinquish the exclusivity of a world champion title to some other team. May be call it irrational exuberance, as with any other mass hysteria in this country, neither could they digest the money and the accolades that were showered on the Indian players, post the T20 championship. Remember the comments Andrew Symonds made, when he saw the cavalry of the welcome parade in Mumbai?

To add insult to injury was the reality they had to confront with when the young blood of Harbhajan and Sreeshanth retorted back to their sledging, word for word, during the home series, which again left the Aussies aghast in disbelief that they could also land on the receiving end. “That's weird – are we losing our monopoly?” At the end of the series, did they not forget to extend a cold-blooded invite to Sreeshanth – reminded me of my gully cricket in school days, where we would offer a threatening invite to our next-street boys to come and face us in our own street!

Unfortunately the Aussies missed Sreeshanth and found a good enough sitting duck in Harbhajan, who could have fallen into the cleanly laid trap, set by the exponents of sledging. Credit their strategy and the timing of the incident, when the Aussie captain was getting clueless against reading the deliveries from Harbhajan, he became their victim. It could not have been timed better, when the BCCI and ICC were getting serious against racial slurs, be it a monkey or a donkey or any words that could defy cultural issues.

What about Anil Kumble's comments in the post match press conference? Anil is a gentleman and when he was chosen for the top post last month, I wondered why we are even deliberating so much on a person who would have single-handedly contributed to most of our test wins than anyone in the history of our cricket. He got the exact moment to re-live Bodyline. How frustrated can someone be, to have weathered hours of Aussie torture to score those 45 runs and not a single Aussie turned up to shake hands at the end of the game. It was a shame on the umpires and the Aussie sporting spirit.

Why did the players stay put and why is the BCCI reluctant to act?
Sachin's ego got hit. When the integrity and spirit of most of the Aussie players were there for everyone to see, Mike Procter ignored Sachin, when he was the closest witness on the crime scene. Poor BCCI had no option, but to walk a tight rope with the players and public fury flamed by the media hype (more on that later) and the ground realities that can leave a dent on its future plans with the IPL and Pawar's ascent to the ICC top job. But the truth is - the game of cricket is much more than the eleven players who play. The money, media rights, the economics that revolves around the game these days is phenomenal. No way can the BCCI rain on Lalit Modi's grandeur plans of commoditizing cricket or stuff it on the Aussie players when they very badly had to parade the most glittering of the cricketing elite this April as part of the IPL.

Why does 97% of the Indian public want the team come back?
Media fodder served in the most delectable style by Rajdeep, Arnab Goswami, Sidhu and the junta of ex-cricketers and anyone who had the least association with the game and waiting for a photo op. Nothing much happened on this country to deserve prime-time TV attention than Cricket. Why on earth would you pull in Harbhajan's mom on national television?

Mike Dash, the renowned British historian notes that studies have identified six elements that are required for a case of mass hysteria to afflict a population:

1. "Regional conditions must be conducive" to the mass hysteria's plausibility.
2. "Channels of communication must be available for the reports to spread."
3. "Social and economic stress, as well as a lack of faith in the authorities, predispose people to embrace unconventional interpretations."
4. "[E]very culture has marginal traditions that offer alternative explanations."
5. "A triggering episode often serves as the pebble that commences an avalanche of reports."
6. "[O]utbreaks of unusual manifestations are aided by breakdowns in official control."

Tell me which one of the six was not available for the media last week to fuel the frenzy. Peter Roebeck became the oft-quoted sage of Indian cricket lovers and the media. Did anyone pay attention to what he had written on Yuvraj and Dhoni after Day 3 of the Sydney test? Not to mention the ramblings from Sidhu, whose decibel level is only getting worse after he joined politics – a natural phenomenon, perhaps! Anyone, who did not want the team to comeback, was considered an anti-national. Wish the TV networks display their sample size when they yell out these percentages of truth from their SMS polls.

And, Steve (pitiful) Bucknor?
If there is any live example of a product that is well passed its shelf-life, don’t look further. But, why Steve, when his good buddy Mike Benson was equally, if not more, pitiful? Repeat offence or disgrace? Steve has chased Indian cricketers like one bad omen, right from the days of the 1992 test incident involving Jonty Rhodes’ run-out. If you call Day 5 at Sydney as one bad day at office, then showing Steve the door is such a bad precedence. I wonder the mental state of the two gentlemen who are going to stand in Perth – Assad and Billy! How nervous would they be, given the insane frenzy that may erupt after any bad decision? Let us leave the game to the umpires and the uncertainties add to the beauty of the game and let us not chase the adjudicators with a butchers’ knife.

So, where do we go from here?
Credit to the Aussie media for standing up for the game of cricket and had there be an incident like this in India, not sure how unbiased our media would be to discredit the villains. We are living in an era of make-believe hysterics flamed by the media, where the truth could very well be conjured by clamor.

Credit to the Aussie crowd, who un-equivocally cheered for every one of the FOURs that caressed from VVS’s willow and who all stood-up in ovation celebrating Sachin’s ton. Thank God, the instantaneous cheer need not flow through the media’s SMS poll; else it would have been a different result.

Credit to the Indian players, especially the Fantastic Five, for putting up such a good fight in Sydney, yet leaving the umpiring blunders, it is a shame that we could not withstand four sessions on the final day. You have much larger problems to worry about than a monkey! True, you are the T20 champs, but you also need some good people to play this classic longer version of the game. It is time to tell the young guns that neither would it help to have your heart-throb on the box seat, when your foot moves so nimble on the crease. Not sure if we have enough ammunition left to take the Aussies on the field, especially in the ultra fast wicket laid out in Perth.

Sorry Ricky, for having run your unit like a mob and especially that appeal you made for that catch you took of Dhoni. Hope you frame it up on your porch as a showcase of true Aussie spirit.

Brian Lara’s fascination for the ground was so much that he named his daughter – Sydney. Not sure if anyone in the Indian camp would ever follow suit!