Atrocious umpiring aids amazing Aussie run

Sydney, January 6: Among the bevy of middle-aged professionals who finished playing at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday evening, the oldest of that lot — 61-year-old Steve Bucknor and 49-year-old Mark Benson — walked away as outright match-winners.

Already bleeding by their constant pawing from that raised finger, the Indian team opted for time-delaying tactics to try and save the second Test against this Australian side, which looked determined to match the record-equaling feat by hook or by crook.

Ishant Sharma stopped abruptly and waved towards the pavilion for a change of gloves after having just walked in a few metres inside to take guard. Minutes before, RP Singh took a longer time to walk back after being dismissed than he would have to finish an over. But, however hard the Indian team tried to stoop as low as the umpiring standards and the honesty levels of its opponents in this game, they failed.

So, Australia won the second Test by 122 runs, eight minutes and seven balls before the scheduled close on the final day and thus managed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by going 2-nil up here. As Ricky Ponting led his team to an outrageous celebration on-field, little did he realise that he was only glorifying his counterpart, who remained unconquered on 45 from 111 balls, and the Indian team which, despite its inability to bat through the 72 overs while chasing an improbable 333, went down bravely as martyrs against sinful umpiring and willful claimants to catches that were taken off the ground or never hit the bat.

Michael Clarke’s three wickets in the penultimate over to get rid of Harbhajan Singh and RP Singh off the first two balls, and off the fifth delivery to dismiss Ishant giving Australia the match would be encrypted in scoresheets as much as another part-time option, Andrew Symonds, who got a similar haul of wickets to his name. But a more critical contribution to this Australian victory rose from their conscience that allowed Symonds to take note of the general incompetence of umpires and ask for a caught behind appeal against Rahul Dravid when there was clearly no bat involved and Clarke, who claimed he took a clean catch off Sourav Ganguly’s edge at second slip, when the fact remained otherwise.

Those, particularly the last one, were the turning points of the game as India, who looked wobbly in their bid to save this match got working a 61-run fourth-wicket partnership between Dravid and Ganguly.

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