Tuesday! Talk.

BCCI members elected their new president; usually every BCCI election is trick or treat event, or “பொம்மலாட்ம்” [Dollmia Puppet show] . This time the election was overseen by Election commission of India. So we can expect some sanity.

Mr. Jagmohan Dalmia bites dust and will have to stepped down after running his show for around 20000 years. Union minister Mr. Sharad Pawar gets the power to control the most lucrative game in India. The only game body in India that did not have any political control or influence was cricket; this was one main reason for Cricket being successful in India. Good thing is Mr. Dalmia and his cronies were shown the door for now but getting in a political leader to govern is a concern; let us hope for the best.

Dravid was all praise for his team and thanked everyone. Dravid passed the exam with flying colors. Under his reign India seems to perform much better.

Pathan bowling spell for precise and probing, while Agarkar was mediocre and lacked consistency in fact he was pathetic. Balaji where did he go? I am sure he deserves another chance. Sachin started off with some fantastic strokes, but was out to an unbelievable catch by Prince.

Umpiring issues: When players are penalized for their “wrong doings” Why not treat the umpire in the same fashion? Two LBW decisions yesterday went against India; Butcher was plumb to Murli Kartik, while Sehwag LBW decision was dreadful, both the decision came at a crucial juncture. Sehwag and Sachin were blasting every bowler around when Sehwag was given out. This slowed down the innings, Dravid was very tentative for first 30 minutes at least. However he played a captain’s knock to see India home.

My point is such umpiring incidents make me speculate about umpire Harper; it makes me feel that he had an agenda in mind to upset India. Like players Umpires needs to be penalized or Captains should get an opportunity to appeal against such ruthless decisions that could change the outcome of a hard fought series. Did ICC announce New Year bonus for its employees? I was very much worried to see Jeff Crowe as the match referee; he is notorious for fine collection.

Sri Lankan Test series starts on Dec 2nd 2005 in Chennai; Hope we get some game time as rain gods have been too liberal and at times brutal towards Chennai. “Goliath” Gangully will back but he has come to good - really good, there is no “DOLLMIA” to support him. All the best DADA.