DC Debate: Tampered justice
Ajit Wadekar Vs R. Mohan
Ajit Wadekar: I think Western countries and Australia are still prejudiced and feel they are the superior race. The recent Jadeja-Anderson controversy is a case in point. I feel Jadeja was unjustly dealt with.
There are no two ways about it. Discrimination against Asians — or, rather, racism — still exists in world cricket though it’s not as rampant as it used to be during my playing days. I think Western countries and Australia are still prejudiced and feel they are the superior race. The recent Jadeja-Anderson controversy is a case in point. I feel Ravindra Jadeja was unjustly dealt with, and sanctioning the Indian for the alleged altercation is indeed a hurtful decision, like skipper M.S. Dhoni pointed out.
I don’t think it was a wise decision to allow match referee David Boon to hear England’s witnesses because apparently there was no video evidence and no one knew exactly what happened on the way back to the dressing room. The match referee might feel he has done the Indians a great favour by downgrading the allegations from Level 2 to Level 1, but he should have been fair in judgment. I feel the match referee is one-sided.
Boon’s verdict to slap a fine on Jadeja, Board of Control for Cricket in India’s resilience to challenge the decision and the International Cricket Council’s move to stand by its match referee reminds me of the infamous Port Elizabeth Test in 2001 when the ICC match referee Mike Denness accused Sachin Tendulkar of ball tampering. When Denness, a Scotland-born English cricketer, went on to sanction a few more Indian players for code of conduct violations, all hell broke loose. People believed Denness had something against the Indians and accused him of racism.
I also felt the sanctions against Indians were unfair because the team that toured South Africa in 2001 was the most tolerant bunch of players. Given the fact that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly were highly educated and well behaved, Denness’ conclusions looked ill-motivated.
I feel the Australians and the English are prejudiced over subcontinent players and they think we resort to unruly behaviour on the field, which as a blanket insinuation is not fair. In 2006, umpire Darrell Hair accused Inzamam-ul-Haq and the Pakistan team of cheating during a Test series against England and the same Australian official was adamant that Muttiah Muralitharan broke the law by chucking.
It all boils down to colour consciousness and I think it has gone into the system and will take time to get rid of. Also, the ICC should study the background of the referee before appointing him for a match or a hearing. His past behaviour as a player as well as an official should be checked carefully. It all comes as a big surprise, given the fact that subcontinent teams, especially India, play a big role in the ICC. We all know that BCCI is the biggest contributor to world cricket in terms of revenue generation, but we end up getting a raw deal when it comes to issues like this. The BCCI has already voiced its disappointment over the Jadeja fine and I hope they stand firm till we get justice for our player.
(As told to C. Santhosh Kumar) Ajit Wadekar is a former Indian skipper
R. Mohan: Cricketers tend to overdo the appealing. Indians are not the only ones guilty, but they’ve made a fine art of trying to pressure umpires by the shrillness of their appeals or demonstrativeness over appeals being declined.
Cricket is a gentleman’s game. It has handed down its traditions through centuries. While some racial discrimination was also part of that colonial package — we need to look no further than to South Africa, which was a celebrated member of the club of Test nations even when it was practicing apartheid — what exists now is a very democratic set-up. An Indian heads the International Cricket Council and there is no reason to suspect that Asians, particularly Indians, are at the receiving end when it comes to punishments being handed down for breaches of the code of conduct.
It may be a fact that James Anderson of England is a serial offender when it comes to the cricketers’ universal habit of needling the opposition and trying to gain an edge by getting under the skin of batsmen. But that is not to say that Ravindra Jadeja is a shrinking violet. The chirpy all-rounder has also been known to give as good as he gets. To say that he is a victim whose cause has to be sympathised with in this row may be taking our prejudices a little far without sifting the evidence.
The fact that there is no video of the incident in which it is claimed that Anderson actually pushed Jadeja threateningly might weaken the Indian case. By the same token, there is no evidence either of England’s contention that Jadeja raised his bat in an aggressive manner at Anderson. M.S. Dhoni has gone out of his way to support his colleague in the matter, but this one incident, however merited it may be, does not point to general discrimination in the present day against Indian cricketers.
There were a number of instances in the past about which Indian and Asian cricketers could nurse a genuine grievance. The Mike Denness ruling in South Africa was an infamous affair in which prejudice against Indian cricketers may have been the main reason. There have also been discriminatory rulings when it comes to similar instances of misbehaviour involving an Asian cricketer and their counterparts from England, Australia or South Africa. This is most obvious in cases of appeals when it is possible that the fielder knew he was claiming a bumped catch. While an Asian players is invariably fined for this offence, a famous Australian and South African who used to do the same got away with it on numerous occasions.
The fact remains that cricketers tend to overdo the appealing. Indians are not the only ones guilty of such practices, but they have made a fine art of trying to pressure umpires by the shrillness of their appeals or their demonstrativeness over appeals being declined. This is where Indians need to rein in their behaviour the most. Indian cricketers would do well to remember that they are the leaders of world cricket in terms of attracting audiences wherever they go and they should behave in such a manner that they never forget cricket is indeed a gentleman’s game.
R. Mohan is the resident editor of Deccan Chronicle, Chennai
