Hairy Affair !!!

I decide to blog after quite a lengthy break and guess what...the topic once again revolves around racism and cricket !!!

So, everyone has had his/her opinion on Umpire Darrel Hair, Pakistan, Inzy et al. Its a very unfortunate incident for cricket as a whole. But who is really at fault ? Could we possibly pin-point just one person or a group as being at fault ?? I think everyone involved with conducting the game at The Brit Oval that day failed collectively. Not just the ICC or Inzy or PCB, everyone of them.

Darrel Hair might have jumped the gun in accusing Pakistan of tampering with the ball's condition. But, seriously what can an on-field umpire do, if he finds that the ball has been tampered with ? He already has enough on his hands to be looking for videos for proof. Thats the job of the TV production company. If they miss out on something, that doesnt necessarily mean the thing did not happen.

I don't mean to say that Pakistan tampered with the ball. But their reaction to the allegation, was just childish. As Wasim Akram put it, it was like street cricket. We have had our batting, if you allege us, we are not going to bowl to you. That happens in gully cricket not on the international stage with the world watching. Pathetic. Their contention that they were just lodging a protest doesn't sound strong enough. I think that was a reason to reduce the punishment. The umpires had no choice than to go by the rules. They informed both the teams about the rules, the English batsmen came out to show their willingness to play and this is where things get interesting.
PCB chairman Shahryar Khan reckons Pakistan were ready to come back at that point and just needed some more time but the umpires wanted them to come immediately. Not exactly so, Mr. Khan. Because this time the TV cameras did catch what was happening with the Pak team. Kamran Akmal came out of the dressing room, without his pads/gloves, sat on a seat scratching his head for sometime. He then took a paper, turned few pages as if looking for a picture story and then went back in. He just wanted camera attention i guess. Silly fellow. Silly team. Inzy being the captain has to face the music. No doubt about that in my mind.

Some people claim that the incident is a slur to Pakistan as a whole, that they should defame Hair and stuff. Cmon folks, get hold of yourself. If that is indeed the case, does that mean everytime Pakistan or anyother time has been found indulging in illegal activities, that particular country as a whole has been cheating ??. People would just say anything to grab headlines and incite public opinion.

Another argument against Hair (from Maninder Singh) is that nobody is above the game. Well, so aren't Pakistan, are they ?. They had no right to hold the game and money-paying public at their mercy. Umpire Hair is a very strong umpire, but he is definitely not racist. Its important that we don't judge Pakistan by what some of its players have done before. In the same vein, is it not equally important that we don't equate this incident, even if Hair has got it wrong, with what he has done before ??

Coming back to the racist allegation, what is it ? Is it some kind of fad to accuse every white person who stands up against someone or something related to black/brown people as being racist ?. People are always on the lookout for the smallest faults and immediately the Australian (or for that matter, English or South African) player/official is branded as being racist without even considering the fact that they couldn't be all wrong.

Now isn't looking for oppurtunities to put down the whites as being racist, essentially a racist behavior on its own ???

Your call...