Harbhajan race row - case closed

Finally, there is some closure to the Harbhajan Singh racism controversy after Judge John Hansen cleared him of the racial abuse charge, and instead penalized him for using abusive language. The full text of Hansen's judgement can be found here.

Compared to how Mike Procter, the ICC match referee handled the same case, Hansen seems to have approached the issue much more methodically and sensibly. He has documented the evidence, explained his analysis and justified his conclusions, leaving no room for debate.  If only Mike Procter had handled the issue similarly, there wouldn't have been so much drama!

Earlier, when Harbhajan was first banned, I had blogged that though Harbhajan should be punished, he shouldn't be named a racist. Echoing similar sentiments, Judge Hansen in his report says -

"...But in my view even if he had used the words “alleged” an “ordinary person” standing in the shoes of Mr Symonds who had launched an unprovoked and unnecessary invective laden attack would not be offended or insulted or humiliated in terms of 3.3..."

He is essentially implying that even if Harbhajan had used the word 'monkey', he still would have cleared him off the racial abuse charge!

Tendulkar delights India with his 39th test hundred!

Sachin Tendulkar's yet another commanding century was the highlight of the first day's play in the 4th test match between India and Australia at the Adelaide Oval. He started off slowly, but once past 50, dazzled with some magnificent strokes, especially against Brad Hogg.

Coming in with a pre-meditated intent to attack Hogg, the early part of his innings was dominated by cuts, slog sweeps and a huge hit over midwicket for six. But, past 50, his feet started moving better and he unleashed those superb drives straight down the wicket. Particularly severe on Hogg and Michael Clarke, his straight six off Clarke and subsequent cover drive for four that took him to his 39th hundred were the shots of his innings today.

Riding on Tendulkar's 124* and half-centuries from Sehwag (63) & Laxman (51), India have reached 309 at the end of play, but with Australia scalping 5 wickets on a good batting pitch with some outstanding bowling from Brett Lee, the match is evenly poised.

India would be hoping for Tendulkar(124*) and Dhoni (6*) to get them past 400 and that depends on how well they handle the new ball on day 2. Australia would want to end this partnership as early as possible and run through the tail. Either way, day two promises some exciting cricket!

India stops Australia short of 17th win at Perth!

Australia's bid for a record 17th straight test match win was brought to a halt by India at the WACA in Perth. India convincingly beat Australia in what must rank as one of their greatest wins ever! On a pitch where nobody gave them a chance, with a second string bowling attack, coming off a heart breaking last minute loss at the SCG, this win was a tremendous team effort! 

 

 

Here are the highlights of the match -

Anil Kumble winning the toss and choosing to bat - With so much talk about how the pitch is going to be fast and bouncy, and Australia bringing in Shaun Tait to go in with a 4 pace attack, it would have been the easy decision to bowl first. But, Kumble took the tough choice, which paid rich dividends at the end.

Tendulkar and Dravid's partnership - Kumble's call to bat first paid off mainly due to the partnership between Tendulkar and Dravid. Dravid back at his no.3 spot, played a wonderful innings, but, it was Tendulkar's inventive stroke play that was the highlight of the partnership.

Pathan, RP Singh and Sharma's bowling - India's second choice attack (all three played only because of injuries to Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel), instead of trying to exploit the pace of the wicket, played to their strengths - keeping the ball up and swinging. Theirs was the most consistent pace bowling by India in recent times, swinging the match India's way.

Laxman's partnership with Dhoni and RP Singh - With the big 3 failing in the 2nd innings, Australians were with a real chance to get back in the game, but ran in to VVS Laxman. With runs worth their value in gold, he patiently grafted every run in the company of Dhoni and later with RP Singh. Dhoni too, curbed his natural style and knuckled down to scrapping every run possible. This was one of the most determined batting efforts by India in recent times. To me, this was the most intense and definitive passage of play in the whole match - ugly to watch, but beautiful in intent.

Ishant Sharma vs. Ricky Ponting - What a wonderful passage of play this was - a rookie troubling one of the most accomplished batsmen in this era! Excellent pace bowling by Ishant had Ponting missing, fending, swaying, hopping, mistiming and finally edging to Dravid.

Michael Clarke's innings - Clarke exemplified the Australian winning attitude. Batting with confidence and controlled aggression, he lead Australia's charge towards an improbable win. While he was at the crease, an upset was definitely on the cards.

Sehwag bowling out Gilchrist - With Clarke batting fluently and the new ball due in 10 overs, Gilchrist was preparing to launch an assault  - he had just brought out his squash ball and stuffed it in to his left glove (remember the world cup 2007 final?). In an inspired move (or, maybe just lucky!), Kumble tossed the ball to Sehwag and he obliged bowling out Gilchrist around this legs, exposing the Australian tail and snubbing out any chance of an Australian win.

Tendulkar - Masterful!

Rahul Dravid, who looked totally out of sorts as opener at the MCG, was slowly but steadily batting himself into form at the SCG and today at Perth, back at his usual no.3 spot, he finally found his groove and hit some glorious shots - especially through covers, on his way to a composed 93 that helped India reach 297 at the end of day 1. Though, a loss of quick wickets towards the end means Australia holds a slight advantage in the contest.

But, it was Tendulkar's innings of 71 that set the match up for India. Coming in with the score reading 2-59, he showed urgency in running, looked composed, and generally showed positive intent from the beginning. But, the way he adjusted his game to the Australians' tactics of bowling short to him was the highlight of his innings. He stayed well balanced and swayed out of the short balls on the middle and leg; but, anything short and wide was cut fiercely over gully and the slip region. One shot in particular stood out - in the 32nd over, Lee bowled a short one at 145km/hr, Tendulkar swayed out of the way, and as the ball was about to pass him over, gently guided it over slips for four. An exquisite shot, minimal in effort, and delightful to watch!

Contrast this with his innings in the 2nd test match in the series against England last year, where not in the best of form, he still managed to score a very useful 91, which along with contributions from the openers and a very good spell of fast bowling from Zaheer Khan helped India secure a win. Then, unsure of his form, he handled the short pitched bowling very differently - he swayed, ducked or left the short balls and many times took blows to his body rather than trying to pull or hook. He showed great humility and determination not to fall prey to England's tactics, eschewing shots he wasn't confident of executing right. And, of course when the ball was full, he dispatched it magnificently through covers.

This ability to adjust his game to different situations is what makes him a true master.

Team for the Perth Test

Yuvraj Singh's failure in India's warm up match against ACT Invitational XI has essentially ruled him out of the team for the rest of the series. Unable to replicate his ODI form, he has scored a meager twenty eight runs in four matches - so much for shuffling the batting order around to accommodate him in the eleven. He must be disappointed that he couldn't use the opportunity to cement a spot in the team after being in the sidelines for so long.

Another player who has been struggling for runs in the series so far is Jaffer. He has fallen in all the four test innings so far to Lee's scorching pace. Though he scored a useful 92 in the practice match, it wasn't a confident innings and on a fast bouncy pitch in Perth, he could be a liability. It is a tough call to drop him - he was in very good form all through 2007 and still should be India's first choice opener. But, with Sehwag exhibiting some form - he scored a typically aggressive 73 ball century in the practice match; it's worth a gamble to try him as an opener at Perth.

Yuvraj's replacement Karthik offers a couple of options. One option is to play him as the other opener and restore the middle order back - Dravid at three and Laxman at six. The other option is to keep Dravid as the other opener and play Karthik at six. With Laxman being so fluent at three and Dravid settling in to the role of an opener after a horrid match at the MCG, the latter option sounds better.

As for the bowlers, Kumble, Ishant and RP Singh select themselves. With Perth promising to be a fast and bouncy pitch, Pathan should be brought in for Harbhajan.

With that, here is my team for the Perth Test -

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Rahul Dravid
3. VVS Laxman
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Sourav Ganguly
6. Dinesh Karthik
7. MS Dhoni
8. Irfan Pathan
9. Anil Kumble
10. RP Singh
11. Ishant Sharma

The Sydney Test

Stumbled upon this excellent summary of the controversial events of the Sydney Test - "The Most Discussable Match".

Harbhajan Singh a racist?

Harbhajan Singh has been banned for three test matches effectively cutting short his Australian tour after he was found guilty of racism for calling Andrew Symonds a "monkey" during the second test match of the ongoing India-Australia test series. In the words of Mike Procter the match referee - "I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Harbhajan Singh directed that word at Andrew Symonds and also that he meant it to offend on the basis of Symonds' race or ethnic origin."

A three match ban for calling someone a monkey?! And how in hell did it constitute racism?! I mean I call my daughter a "naughty little monkey" as an endearment! At first glance the complaint itself sounds silly and the punishment unfair. But, there is some history to this story - when the Australians toured India in Oct 2007,  Symonds was called a monkey by certain sections of the crowd first in Vadodara and later in Mumbai and Symonds took offence to that as being racist. Then too there was a debate as to whether to interpret the crowd's behavior as a racial comment or merely as a playful taunt to Symonds' perceived boorish antics. We would never know what those people were really thinking when they were taunting him, but we definitely know for sure how Symonds felt - insulted, humiliated and a victim of racism. And that by itself is reason enough to stop calling him that. While it is highly arguable that the crowd behavior in Vadodara wasn't racist, it's a separate debate; Once Symonds explicitly took offense to that behavior as being racist, it is reasonable to expect any decent human being to stop insulting him like that. The Mumbai crowd didn't, and hence their behavior inexcusable. And for the same reason, Harbhajan's behavior is also inexcusable.

Does this mean Harbhajan is a racist? No, I don't think so. There was a lot of chirping from the Australians when Harbhajan was batting and it is totally plausible that Symonds said or did something to really offend Harbhajan and Harbhajan responded in kind. I believe Harbhajan called Symonds a monkey not because of his ethnicity or race but because he knew it would tick him off. So, while I agree with Mike Procter punishing Harbhajan, I am not convinced that "he (Harbhajan) meant it to offend on the basis of Symonds' race or ethnic origin".

On the other hand, this incident should have never escalated up to the match referee in the first place. Every team sledges, Australians more so than others; and every individual has his own level of tolerance for what is over the limit and what is within (remember the jelly bean incident with Zaheer Khan?). If the Australians felt that Harbhajan was crossing the line, they should have first tried to work things out by talking to the Indian captain off field instead of running to the umpires. Aren't they the ones who advocate the "what's said in the field remains in the field" argument? Its just shameful that an issue which could have been easily solved over a couple of beers has been escalated to a player being banned.

The tail wags, but....

The Indian batting lineup redeemed itself at the SCG after a dismal performance at the MCG, riding high on VVS Laxman's glorious 109 and Sachin Tendulkar's sublime 154*.  But once again, India's tactics while batting with the tail was baffling to say the least and this time it was Tendulkar who was the culprit. His strategy of trusting the tailenders and sharing equal strike with them worked pretty well with Harbhajan, who scored a very useful 63. And that partnership between them essentially enabled India to get closer to Australia's score and eventually go past it.

Once Harbhajan got out, one expected Tendulkar to take charge,  farm the strike and be more aggressive.  But, Tendulkar was happy to rotate the strike around to both RP Singh and Ishant Sharma, both of whom outscored Tendulkar in their partnerships! Agreed, Ponting made things harder by pulling back the field when Tendulkar was facing the bowling and bringing the field in for the last 2 balls of an over; but, it was frustrating to see Tendulkar neither show any intent to protect the tail nor be aggressive in scoring runs. Its to the tailenders credit that they were able to last longer than expected.

Nevertheless it was a controlled, well-paced, expert innings from Tendulkar, who after a couple of near misses in 2007 has scored his 38th test hundred - an innings that has put India on top...for now.