Saturday, September 25, 2010

Match Box (Look Who Blames...)

Pakistan's tumultuous tour of England, fittingly, folded with another controversy as the English daily, Mail, accused Pakistani maverick, Shoaib Akhtar of ball tampering.
The article, published on 23rd September implicated Pakistan in another dispute as it contained clear pictures of Akhtar involved in the dodgy act.




Accepted! But where was all this hullabaloo when the seemingly innocuous Broad (yes Broad!) mirrored the acts shown above in this very year (against South Africa in January 2010).




and when in the same series James Anderson repeated the felony committed by Broad...




The biased stance of the British media becomes even more evident when we come across this TV grab from the very same match in which Shoaib handled the ball in blatant disregard of the rules.




Well, as we can see, Bresnan here was clearly working his nails on the seam, an act that can aid the ball in reverse swing.
Finally, albeit at the wrong time, we state as to what is ball tampering...
Ball Tampering is an action in which a fielder or bowler illegally alters the condition of the cricket ball. Under Law 42, subsection 3 of the Laws of Cricket, the ball may be polished without the use of an artificial substance, may be dried with a towel if it is wet, and have mud removed from it under supervision; all other actions which alter the condition of the ball are illegal. These are usually taken to include rubbing the ball on the ground, scuffing with a fingernail or other sharp object (like spiked boots), or tampering with the seam of the ball in any other way.
Now the judgement is up to you....do you think that the British media is impartial when it comes to the violation of cricket laws? A flag-bearer of fair cricket when anyone else has done the violation and becoming meekly silent when their very own stars are under scrutiny or just completely deny the news in the latter case.

No comments:

Post a Comment