Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Cricket controversy

The reaction in India to the controversies surrounding the Sydney cricket Test with regard to the racist charge against Harbhajan Singh and umpiring decisions has been disappointing. The media and a host of ‘patriotic’ ex-cricketers are indulging in jingoistic claptrap instead of an enlightened debate on the episode. It is time we got over the I-am-the-victim syndrome. Camouflaging this psyche by financial muscle-flexing through threats and blackmail is not a mature response.

K. Subramanian,

New Delhi

No doubt the Harbhajan episode was not sporting. But Andrew Symonds, who provoked Harbhajan, has been let off and Hogg got away with his bad behaviour on field, thanks to the gesture of Kumble and his men. The Australian media may cry foul at Bhajji’s reprieve but they must ask themselves whose team has been getting away despite holding the title of master sledgers.

S. Subramanyam,

Bangalore

This is the first time an Asian country has dictated terms and succeeded. The BCCI might have used its financial power but then it is the order of the day. Australians hold the dubious credit of introducing sledging in the cricketing world. Humiliating the Asian players is a rule rather than an exception for them. With the tables turned on them, they are furious.

Anyone who has spent time in north India knows that the maa ki word is added to a conversation without any particular reason by many Hindi/Punjabi speaking youngsters.

Y. Parameswaran Menon,

Thrissur

Although the withdrawal of racism charge against Harbhajan has given the much-needed relief to him, Team India and the BCCI, averting what could have been a major crisis, Australian players and the media are unhappy over the way the whole episode was handled by the ICC. But it is apparent from television images that Harbhajan was provoked by Andrew Symonds. The word maa ki, normally used in conversation in the Hindi-speaking belt, does not amount to racial vilification.

K.R. Srinivasan,

Hyderabad

While trivial cricketing episodes make headlines in our newspapers and television channels, suicides of farmers do not. When Team India fared poorly in the last World Cup, our parliamentarians were outraged enough to ask for the head of the cricket coach. The same MPs do not seem to want any answers from the Minister in charge of farmers’ affairs.

Ebe Sunder Raj,

Chennai

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