Now that India and Pakistan are out of the WorldCup – here is the updated schedule.
The big losers are the sponsors, with India & Pakistan both out of the tournament – its going to be an incredibly boring worldcup for 1 billion people.
Greg Chappell better lock his door in his hotel tonight!
Well, I saw the match live – and Lara has been unfairly portrayed in the media and elsewhere. They same Lara, who is one of the few guys who has a reputation of being a walker (without waiting for a verdict from the umpire, if he knows he is out – other being Adam Gilchrist). He has done so when he was 91*, and even when he was given not out for caught behind (Lara was 91* he was caught by c N.Mongia b V.Raju when Umpire Venkat ruled him NOT OUT – he walked!).
When the Umpire & Dhoni didn’t believe Daren Ganga’s version that the catch has been cleanly taken – he was pissed that there is no sportsmanship – and angrily snatched the ball from the umpire Asaf to give it to Dave Mohd to continue blowing to Dhoni. This after the fact that Dravid signaled from Pavilion that he had declared.
Update: ICC has now issued a clarification of the rules in its website: “Lara did not cross the line”
It is in India’s best interest that they declare as soon as possible. So the blame is squarely on the indecisiveness of the umpire’s. Why did they call for 3rd umpire when Dravid declared and Dhoni is walking off his grease?
In other words:
If Dhoni says, I hit a clean six – then Lara should believe him. But Dhoni cannot.
If Ganga says, I took a clean catch Dhoni should believe him. Thats sports. Even ICCI says, the umpire can tap into fielders version of what happened when a conclusion cannot be reached.
Now, only one of them can conclusively say what happened – and that is Ganga – so when the people in the middle call him a liar – the spirt of the game is lost!