Margao, Goa

Unsporting spirit

• The Aussies take the field not with 11 players but with two more — the umpires. Ponting’s strategy of crying foul against Harbhajan Singh has worked, and India have effectively been reduced to 10 men for the next two Tests. After enjoying such unfair advantage, do the Aussies deserve to be crowned the unchallenged kings of cricket? In India’s first innings at Sydney, Harbhajan played the true sportsman by admitting that the ball had hit the ground before it reached him. But what happened in the second innings when his own catch was disputed?

— S. Kamat

Alto Betim, Goa

India XI vs Aus XIV

• India lost the Sydney Test match thanks to some poor batting and bad umpiring. It was India XI v/s Australia XIV (including both the umpires and the third umpire). The Australians can go to any extent to win a match. They are masters at sledging and they now accuse Harbhajan Singh of making racist comments. What really surprises me is that we treat the likes of Ricky Ponting, Bret Lee & Co as semi-gods and shower money and ad contracts on them.

— S.N. Kabra

Mumbai

Left turn

• Jyoti Basu needs to be congratulated on admitting an ideological blunder by stating that socialism is not feasible now. Such candidness is welcome from our Left intellectuals. But one also wonders what could be the rationale for swinging from totalitarian socialism to capitalism in a camp that once believed in the ideals of social justice so passionately. It is ironical that a leader like Jyoti Basu has to be reminded that democratic and ‘liberal’ socialism would surely resurface as a possible ideal once the problems of dearth and drudgery have been mitigated substantially.

... contd.