Simon Taufel, next IPL casualty!

If my previous post-- on how the Indian Premier League (IPL) has hit Australian cricket and poses a serious threat to the game at large-- seemed far-fetched, sample this.

Simon Taufel, who never missed the ICC Umpire of the Year award since its 2004 inception, is not keen to renew his contract which expires on March 31.

Talking to The Daily Telegraph, Taufel says

After that I am on the open market.

While he tried to convince the world that he wants to spend more time with family and hence the decision, Taufel hinted he was game for the IPL plunge.

That's possible but I don't know what the parameters are yet.

Now, if officiating in 59 Twenty20 matches of the cash-awash IPL spread over 44 days fill your coffers, who wants to stand under the scorching sun and intermittent shower for days at stretch throughout the year to earn his bread?

This would be a terrible blow for the ICC, which is already grappling with umpiring blunders that blighted the Sydney Test.

Of the 10 umpires on the ICC panel, finger-happy Steve Bucknor and the Oval-faced Darrell Hair are cooling their heels on the sidelines. South African Rudi Koertzen has no clue about what happened at the striker’s end and 22 yards seems too much for his eyeshot.

By April, when the IPL is thrust on us, prepare for more crises.

Image: Getty Images

Cultural difference and others craps

We would surely love to believe that the Sydney bad blood has been flushed out. Disturbing voices, however, still want us believe Ricky Ponting & Co played the game hard but fair.

“Cultural difference, silly!” Well, that’s pure crap. Hogg…I mean hogwash actually.

Let’s get it right that India lost the Sydney Test but Australia did not win either. If Cricket Australia cares a fig about intangible things like ethics and morality, the Sydney Test, at best, was a Pyrrhic victory. But neither Ponting nor James Sutherland is Pyrrhus and nor do they realize that victories like this would leave their reputation in tatters.

Unmistakably, the Australians are so seduced by success that they bring in a kind of ruthlessness that probably guarantees them silverwares but not admirers. Well, if they are happy with that, congratulations! If cricket is global politics, Australia is its America – the big, brash, bully that boasts of everything but admirers. Likewise, Australia’s cupboard maybe full of trophies but they have hardly won anything else.

Specially under Ponting, Australia has fallen from the grace. They have been disgraceful in triumphs and worse in defeats. Like America, they top the hate-list outside Down Under. Preparing a rap-chart, where India and Sourav Ganguly top the team and individual lists, is an exercise in futility.

For quite a while, Australia has been so unflinching in its single-minded persuasion of the one-point agenda of success that it sacrificed everything else – grace, niceties, sportsmanship – at its altar.

Reared up on a perverse notion that skill alone may not be enough to ensure success, the Australians have been schooled to be crook. Sledging is considered a necessity and grip over a filthy vocabulary has been made to look as important as gripping the ball.

Unfortunately for the game, Australia is the hideous face of cricket. It’s rather an irony that cricket has a team at the top that stands for everything that goes against the very spirit of the game.

Alas, Australia is not aware of the kind of cricket it has been practicing and preaching. Now if they decided to play it the way they wanted, I would have no business criticizing them. But what worries me is the fact that the disease if contagious. Frustrated at Australia’s America-like hegemony, countries like India are trying to blindly ape them, bringing a smug smile to Australia’s face. After all, imitation is the best form of compliment. Therein lies the danger for the game.

Image: Getty Images