Is cricket turning into a game of hooligans and goons?

It was the IPL match between Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians yesterday wherein this incident happened – Munaf Patel was the bowler and Sangakkara was batting with the Mumbai’s wicket-keeper coming up to the stumps; the bails got dislodged and the off-stump got uprooted. The impact was so fast that neither the keeper nor the square leg umpire was sure of how it happened. The square leg umpire had a feeling that the ball hit the keeper’s pad first and came off from there to ricochet onto the stumps. So, in consultation with his colleague who was officiating the over, he ruled the batsman not out. Then occurred the whole drama – the initiator of which was none other than the new Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh.

None of the Mumbai players were pleased to see the umpires ruling the batsman not out without referring it to the third eye. So, they started parading towards the umpires as a faction and started speaking to them in such a tone so as to intimidate them. Harbhajan was particularly seen bullying the umpire getting too close to him. Even then the umpires, who were seen to be least perturbed by it, went with their original decision. It looked as though the Mumbai players were going to take the field but again as the umpire was going to hand over the ball to Munaf Patel, the latter instead of obliging, took the ball from the umpire’s hands and dashed it to the ground in remonstration as if he would not bowl until the decision is referred or reversed.

There was no play for atleast more than five minutes due to this incident. Maybe the number game started to play on the umpire’s minds or another reason unknown, they finally relented and went in for the TV replay. The replays showed that the ball hit the stumps first which resulted in the bails coming off, indicating that the batsman was out. The captain of Deccan Chargers, Sangakkara had to take a walk back to the pavilion.

So, what did the incident prove? Though it could be agreed that the umpires were wrong in reserving the decisions to themselves initially instead of going for the third umpire, the behavior of the Mumbai Indians players was something to be viewed seriously. An umpire is not a computer, who upon getting programmed is going to give the correct output always. They are bound to make errors some day or the other and so it happened yesterday.

True that the umpires should have gone to the third umpire right away, but is this the way for the players of the so called gentlemen’s game to behave? The whole of India was watching this game and the players should have understood that they were treated as role models by many young children, aspiring to be cricketers. If they see their heroes behaving in such a fanatical manner, cricket in future will not remain a gentlemen’s game. It would turn into a game in which goons and hooligans show their power. If today, even school going kids are turning smokers, it is mainly because of the films which portray their heroes doing such acts. This impact can certainly not be ruled out. In a similar sense, if the children find cricketers who they adore, engaging in such disgusting on field behavior, like threatening the umpires, they would also resort to such activities.

The players should show some responsibility by safeguarding sportsmen spirit. If not, the game is going to come to disrepute. We had seen certain infamous incidents in cricket but those were noticed once in a decade or so. Say for examples, an incident which involved the clash between Javed Miandad and Dennis Lillee, an incident which involved Javed Miandad and the Indian team in 1992 world cup, an incident which involved Curtly Amrbose and Stephen Waugh, an incident which involved Inzamam-Ul-Haq and a spectator, the incident which involved Glenn McGrath and Sarwan have all been seen in cricket. But, those were not things which occurred frequently. The cricketers behaved better and the game’s spirit never was tainted as it is now.

It can go still lower if we are bent upon retaining certain players who have always been a part of it. The players, once forgiven are the ones who are really pampered. We are seeing a player constantly being involved in certain acts which damages the game. A player, irrespective of certain episodes like the monkey-gate, slap-gate, etc. is continues playing the game. If only such players are properly reprimanded, the game will survive. Or else, the cricket ground for every reason, will turn into a war field.

We have seen numerous incidents in games such as football, ice hockey etc. where the players try to hit each other and even many times chase down and kick referees. Such incidents are not long away from being witnessed in cricket. The players who are miscreants should be left out of the team however great they are. One or two matches ban is not going to set things right. The punitive measures have to be very strict or else we are soon going to see the introduction of yellow and red cards in cricket also.