Game Day, Third Test, 3rd day

Indians and the Aussies, Nagpur

If there is a God that controls cricket, he or she was on the side of the Aussies. When it comes to LBW Indians have been victims of poor umpiring and Aussies has always been fortunate to get away with daring umpiring mistakes.

Indian pacers pinned the Australian top order to a run rate below 2.00, Zaheer Khan and Agarkar bowled their hearts out for the first hour of the innings. The last time Zaheer bowled like this was in New Zealand.

Katich took a light year or more to score his first run. However he was finally out for 99 for 2, he got lucky twice, Zaheer had him plumb in the front when he was in zero, By all means this Leg before appeal can be used as LBW specimen for umpire training purposes.

Oh! Poor Indians, kept cool, may be afraid of being fined by match referee Mr. Ranjan “Biased” Madmax.

Second time, Kumble suffered the umpiring stinker, Katich was again out plumb in the front, but the umpire standing just 22 yards away missed it. How can he miss it, was he dreaming about something? ,

In the recent ”thuglak tamil” magazine, in the parody filled Q&A section, there was a question on Sehwag’s stinker decision in the Banglore test, for which the editor had replied that people fail to see the conditions at which umpires work, people fail to appreciate them for right decisions.

This is the first time ever I don’t agree with Mr.Cho Ramaswamy here. Umpires are there to do a job, and they are being compensated well enough to do the job, every other rule protect umpires from the players over reaction, crowd noise etc are part of the job, be ready to take it, if you cannot, "CHANGE YOUR JOB". The Umpire stands 22 yards away from the stumps, if he cannot see it properly from 22 yards, Listen, they cannot see from anywhere. Ridiculous!

I am very surprised why our beloved Cho fails to see the pressure faced by the batsmen or the bowler. The entire outcome of the match is bound to change because of daring umpire errors. Katich went on to score 99, had he been out on zero, who knows the way pacers were bowling things might have gone India’s way.

Whew!, Let us get back, finally! After back breaking sessions, the Cricket gods showed mercy on the Indians and justice was served Katich was out LBW to Karthick for 99. Thanks to the umpire who saw it right this time at least. Dubious decisions turn round the entire out come of the match. This is a fact.

Kumble soon started bowling his usual donkey drops and Patel failed to gather those drops. This incompetence continued all through the day. Dravid kind of over used Sachin, at a point of time he should have got back the pacers after giving them the much needed (short) rest.

In the Morning session, worried about the dagger hanging over his head, Patel was out to Shane Warne. The “all rounder” who could never bats a.k.a Agarkar walked in to score 15 and was impatient to stay further. It was just time before the Indian tail was chopped and digested by the Aussies. As expected by every one who follows cricket, follow on was not enforced, Aussies decided to bat India out of the game.

On the innings break, Sanjay Moonraker, started his sarcasm, this time his hate was on Chorpa, he mentioned “the technically preferred” opener failed again to score. People Do you remember how Sanjay Manju batted?, I remember, he is of the same kind who could stay on the wicket, play perfect technical cricket for 365 days and still score something less than 20. It is high time to remind him about it.

B(op)arry Richards, a great cricketer no doubt, however he needs to remember that he is being paid by the Indians for his services, at times he goes over board on commentary by using the “Ian Chappell” methods. Using few speculated news from the media, he has no right to insult the Indian team or its captain. It is not appropriate to display his smartness in the commentary box, his job is to report about the live action, Period. He is welcome to create a Blog and compete with me. Go over board on Gangully for his off field behavior etc. at your own cost, who cares;

The lead at the close was above 400, I am sure India would lose this match. I have no hopes of any kind, yes!, we do have great batsmen with great potential and technique , but the Aussies are very much capable of putting pressure on Indian batting lineup, with some luck from the cricket gods and Mr. Umpires , they are all set to win the game by tomorrow evening.