The avian revenge: best served cold

The stench was palpable. The carcasses were strewn across the field. Some bodies were charred but most were simply culled. The scene was from one city; the pattern however was repeated almost all over the globe. They had just found out that the strain referred to as the common flu in homo sapiens had mutated..

What bad taste?

It takes an article of this nature http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/pakvind/content/current/story/236128.html to irritate me sufficiently and get blogging again.

Mr. Haq,

You blocked the throw at the wicket with your bat (it was going on to hit the stumps), you were well out of his crease, heck, you weren’t even aware that there was a rule that obstructing the ball in this manner would get you out (and that’s when you had previously been given out for getting your body in the way!)

Now you say that the appeal was unsporting and that it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Mr. Haq, you want to know what an unsporting thing to do is:

India were chasing 279 in the final innings for the Calcutta test match in 1999. India were in a good position to win that match when Shoaib Akhtar got IN THE WAY of Tendulkar while he was completing a run and as a result he fell short of the crease and was adjudged run-out. Pakistan went on to win the match. Trust me when I say that it did leave a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of spectators (and they let it show in ways I do not condone) but noteworthy is the fact that the one person who it mattered most to did not utter a word about it. This is the same guy who walked away when he 'thought' he had nicked the ball while in fact he had not, and that’s just in the recently concluded test match.

In your case, you guys went on to win the match (whether you deserved to is a whole different issue, not relevant here) but you have the nerve to complain.

What can I say to someone who considers the following manner of being declared out to not be in the spirit of the game?
Handling the ball, hit-the-ball twice dismissals, running out a batsman while backing up

Can you imagine what will happen without these rules?

[Caution: extreme cases, but if you play to win, and the rules allow it, if no one else, the Aussies will surely be doing the following]

Handling the ball: Deadly spinner on the other end. No Problem. Catch the ball as he throws it and toss it over the boundary. Strong arms will get 6 byes, while the others (read bowlers protecting their bowling hand) will manage 4 byes.

Hit-the-ball twice dismissals: First attempt: Beat the ball to the ground. Handle the ball, in fact toss it up, and Second attempt: Knock it into the orbit.

Running out a batsman while backing up: Why don’t we just let the non-striker go ahead and get to the other end of the crease even before the ball is bowled? At the very least, it halves the run out possibilities (something you certainly ought to appreciate).

In your case, I cannot even say that this is a case of sour grapes. Whatever motivated you to say absolute nonsense like “I would not have imagined that Rahul Dravid and his team would do such a thing"? Your side is known to do worse, much worse.