Pakistan cricket is in the news again and for the wrong reasons again! The ghosts of ball tampering caught up with the team in the Oval test in England which led to the team leading walking out. This act of ‘protest’ eventually costs the tourists the match.

There were a spate of incidents which could be put under a scanner. Umpire Darrel Hair’s action of changing the ball triggered the entire controversy. He conferred with the other umpire Billy Doctrove without taking the fielding captain into confidence which ignited the spark.

The ground of changing the ball wathat the ball had been tampered. This is not the first time that the team has faced such accusations. In the past, bowlers such as Wasim Akram faced ball tampering allegations which tainted the image of Pakistan Cricket to some extent.

The team staged a walk out and after the recess did not turn up on the field. This action, added fuel to the fire, which was taken seriously taken by the two umpires. When the touring team did not turn up after some time, the ruling was given in favour of England team. Surprisingly, a while later the Pakistani team came back to play the match! If it wanted to protest by ‘walking out’ then did it come back?

This act dents the ‘bona fide’ nature ofthe act of walk out to some extent, as does the umpire’s decision to change the ball all of a sudden. People will get to know, when an investigation is conducted
Be it ball tampering or racial bias in umpiring, the sufferer is the game of cricket..

What do you say..?

The repercussions of terrorism were felt in Sri Lanka when a bomb intended for a Pakistani bureaucrat exploded. The catch here being was that although it was intended for someone, it created ripples in some other sphere- Cricket.

The sad part of this blast apart from the casualties was that it was Cricket, as a sport which bore the brunt. The explosion took place a couple of kilometers away from the hotels of the Indian and South African players.

The South African team as a result of this blast has pulled out of the tournament. And this means India and Sri Lanka will play in this tri-series which has now become a bi-series!

So, from what has surfaced, the blasts appear to be unintentional as far as the series is concerned. But in this process, has the terror world found another soft target? Sports and that too Cricket?

Although sports has never existed in isolation from terrorism which has reared its ugly head many a times in the past, the scars of Munich massacre a sad memory of the horrific tale.

With Cricket being a big money spinner particularly in the sub-continent, will the blast hurt cricket badly by hurting the economics of the game?

The answer lies in how this matter is dealt. It is diabolical and ironical that countries where terrorism fosters in the bylanes of its cities, a bunch of kids enjoy the game somewhere in the same alleys bereft of larger malice.

So the choice is upto the people at the top level and those who love this sport to decide whether terrorism will be allowed permeate into this sport?

What do you feel…?