MS Dhoni
always is in the thick of action ~ in the 40th over of SA innings,
he stumped Phehlukwayo with ease
bringing delight to be bowler Yuzvendra Chahal. It was a happy sight for all of
us seeing the stumping again and again on TV but not for a Paki Minister !!! ~ don’t get carried away – the photo here is
Chahal cleaning Rassie van der Dussen
On
Tuesday, Dale Steyn left the World Cup without bowling a ball. It was
unfortunate to say the least, irrespective of your loyalties. That, however,
hasn't left the World Cup bereft of top-of-the-line fast men. Leading that
contingent are Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah, two young pacers, who have the
skills and the brains to intimidate batsmen. If you need proof of that, just
revisit their opening spells on Wednesday. .. .. .. .. this World Cup 2019 is certainly proving to be very interesting ! ~ it was frustrating to see WI lose chasing a
big total, and sort of having things under control towards close and yet losing
.. the score card reads :
Australia
288 (Coulter Nile 92, Smith 73, Brathwaite 3-67) beat West Indies 273 for 9
(Hope 68, Holder 51, Starc 5-46) by 15 runs .. it was a tale of Aaron Finch's Aussies strangling their way to
a 10th consecutive ODI victory, something achieved through a combination of
efforts that will please the coach Justin Langer no end. For all their top
order woes, the Australians were resourceful in adversity. They found
restorative partnerships guided expertly by Steven Smith, extracted from Nathan
Coulter-Nile the innings of his life, and, unlike West Indies, did not miss a
chance in the field.
Mitchell
Starc and Pat Cummins, fast, hostile and accurate, produced a pair of superb
analyses, used expertly by Finch to constrain, pressurise and ultimately crush
the West Indies chase. Hope, Pooran and Holder flattered to deceive ~ Russel,
Braithwaite could have been judicious in their shot selection when win was in
the offing. The match was marred by some poor-umpiring too, if not biased one !
for that close 15 run loss.
Michael
Holding slammed the umpiring during West Indies' loss to Australia as
"atrocious", while Carlos Brathwaite described some decisions as
"frustrating" and "dodgy" and suggested that West Indies
players are on the wrong end of decisions more often than their opponents. The
umpires, Chris Gaffaney and Ruchira Palliyaguruge, had four decisions
overturned between them and Gaffaney also missed a blatant front foot no-ball
from Mitchell Starc that preceded the delivery that claimed the wicket of Chris
Gayle. If the no-ball had been called, Gayle would have had a free hit on what
was ultimately the wicket-ball. Brathwaite were to say, . "even when we
were bowling we thought a few balls close to head height were called wides. And
obviously three decisions in one over as far as I can remember being dodgy, it
was frustrating and sent ripples through the dressing room. "To lose Chris
in a chase of 280, who can probably get 180 of them himself obviously, broke
the start that we wanted to have. But the umpires do their job, they try to do
it to the best of their ability, we as players go out there to do our job as
well, so there was no confrontation between the players and the umpires." Holding,
commentating on the ICC's world television feed, was even more scathing,
extending his criticism to the umpires' handling of the Australian bowlers'
appeals for wickets. "The umpiring in this game has been atrocious,"
Holding said. "For one, even when I was playing and you were not as strict
as they are now, you were allowed one appeal. You don't appeal two, three, four
times to the umpire." "They are being intimidated which means they
are weak."
"This
has been an atrocious bit of umpiring by both [Gaffaney and
Palliyaguruge]." In all, Gayle reviewed three decisions - two in one over
and all off the bowling of Starc - and had the first two overturned. On the
first occasion, Gaffaney gave him out caught behind only for the replay to show
the audible sound of ball on wood had come from the ball shaving the stumps but
somehow not dislodging the bails. Gayle reviewed twice more, both for lbw
decisions by Gaffaney, before being given out. But it wasn't until the ball
preceding the wicket was replayed on television that the West Indies players
realised that Starc had overstepped by a considerable margin.
In
previous day’s match – India comfortably beat SA by 6 wickets. India 230 for 4 (Rohit 122*, Dhoni 34, Rabada
2-39) beat South Africa 227 for 9 (Morris 42, du Plessis 38, Chahal 4-51,
Bumrah 2-35).
On
Tuesday afternoon, Rabada playfully engaged in a roaring contest with teammate
Chris Morris. Both men let their emotions out by roaring as loudly as possible.
For a tiny moment, Rabada's face, glistening with sweat, revealed a sense of
joy, a sense of unbridled and uninhibited excitement that is at the core of his
craft. South Africa's batsmen had disappointed for the third match in
succession - they scored 227 for 9.
The stumping
of Phehlukwayo . .. .. is in news ! as
people spotted MSD spotting an insignia in his gloves ~ not any ordinary one
but the ‘Balidan badge’ ! .. The
"Balidan Badge" or the Army insignia was spotted on Dhoni's gloves as
television replays showed him stumping Phehlukwayo in the 40th over of the
innings bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal. Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Science and
Technology, put out a tweet on social media voicing his opinion on the matter
of Dhoni's wicketkeeping gloves and slammed the Indian media for debating on
the matter. Balidan is a distinct insignia of the
special forces, which form part of the Parachute Regiment. It has a commando
dagger pointed downwards, with upward-extending wings extending from the blade
and a scroll superimposed on the blade with "Balidan" inscribed in
Devanagari. Only Paramilitary Commandos are allowed to wear the Balidan Badge.
Dhoni,
who has been conferred an honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Parachute
Regiment in 2011, had also undergone training under the Para Brigade in 2015. Twitter
though was abuzz with fans showing respect to Dhoni. One fan wrote:
"Salute & respect to MS Dhoni who printed insignia of 'Balidan' on his
wicket keeping gloves." Another fan wrote: "This man shows his love
for the nation and army. There are
photos showing the insignia on the back cover of his mobile too.
MS
Dhoni's love for the armed forces is a secret to none. The former Indian
captain himself holds an honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian
Territorial Army and has never failed to profess his love for the forces. It
was not the first instance when Dhoni was seen making his support for the
Indian forces public on the cricket field. After the Pulwama attack in which 40
CRPF troopers lost their lives, Dhoni had come out with an idea of wearing
camouflage caps during an ODI against Australia in March. The entire team,
along with Dhoni, was seen sporting camouflage caps in their bid to pay tribute
to the security personnel who lost their lives in the terror attack on February
14.
However,
the ICC feels otherwise. The ICC regulations says: "The ICC equipment and
clothing regulations do not permit the display of messages that relate to
political, religious or racial activities or causes during an international
match." .. .. but right from 1980s,
matches played on Fridays at Sharjah have different timing and there have been
occasions when Paki team have prayed on the field too !
It is
time, ICC concentrates on the game and ensures quality Umpiring ! ~ change in
bails that fall when ball hits the stumps or change the rule that ‘one is
bowled when ball hit stumps’ irrespective of bail falling or not !!
With regards
– S. Sampathkumar
7th
June 2019.
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