WHAT A WEEK!!!

The events of the past week have thrown up a lot issues which thrust cricket into the background and other cricket related issues have been hogging the headlines. It all started off with umpire Stevie Wonder.. oops did i say Wonder?? I'm sorry I meant Bucknor!! But then again you wouldn't fault me for calling him that had u seen the 2nd test between India and Australia. Stevie's partner in crime was Mark Benson, who until now wasn't heard of but I'm sure that he has become so famous out here that he definitely will not be planning his next vacation to India.
Then we have the 'honest' guys of world cricket viz. Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Mathew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. We all know that the Aussies are a bunch of sore losers but what we didn't know was that their so called playing in the 'spirit of the game' has a totally different meaning from that of the rest of the world. They stay when they have edged the ball to the keeper or the even the slip fielders, until the umpire has confirmed it and they also grass catches and appeal as if they have just completed one of the best catches ever taken.
The third thing learnt was that when the going gets tough for the Aussies they will stoop down to unimaginable levels to play mind games with the opposition. When their egos were bruised because a batsman of the calibre of Harbhajan Singh was whacking their bowling, they decided to convict of him racially abusing Andrew Symonds. The kind of taunts that the Aussies have thrown(taunt is a very mild term) at their opponents through the years makes someone calling Symonds a monkey sound like a sermon.
If anybody ever had a doubt as to why Mike Procter didn't attend law school then all those doubts should have been cleared after seeing the way he passed judgement in the Harbhajan issue. Only Symonds heard it, none of the umpires heard it, the stump microphones didn't pick up anything and Sachin Tendulkar categorically stated that Harbhajan did not say the m word. Even a layman can guess then what the correct verdict should have been. And after passing the judgement Mr.Procter says that he is from South Africa and knows what racism means, well that is exactly what can be held against him also!!
We also saw how the BCCI is one of the most powerful cricket boards around when they managed to get Steve Bucknor replaced for the third test. In another display of its power the BCCI has also given the ICC a week to get Harbhajan's name cleared of the racial charges and if that doesn't happen then the tour will be called off and Mr. Pawar will not be afraid to wield his power.
On the cricketing front Sehwag found some of his form with a century in the practice game, but even he knows that the Aussie attack on a Perth pitch is going to be a few notches tougher. Nevertheless a century is a century in any form of the game against any attack. On Tuesday night the Indian think tank will be in a quandary, should they give Yuvraj another chance and continue to tinker with the batting order?? Or should they bring back Sehwag so that Dravid and Laxman can go back to their original positions in a game they would desperately want to win??
Well the coming week should be as exciting as this week, we will get know if Mr.Pawar can pull off a coup in international cricket and relive the days of Jagmohan Dalmiya and Mike Denness!!