A. Sundararajan's Weblog

No evidence, but still guilty?

Harbhajan banned for three-matches for alleged "racial abuse". Umpires haven't heard or seen anything. Mike Procter himself came on camera and said that the umpires told him they have not heard or seen anything. Did he see anything from the TV footage? It does not seem so. If there is any evidence, we have the right to know it. Aussie players claim something. Indian players claim otherwise. Two parties are not agreeing on what really happened. Under the circumstances, you expect the ICC referee to dismiss the charge on the lack of evidence. Instead, he punished Harbhajan. Did he go by just the word from Aussie players alone?

Now, by this process anyone can be punished. Any team can gang against the better players of the opponent team and claim racial abuse or anything that can get a ban! If a Muttiah Muralidaran bowls well, previously they claimed chucking, shouted "no ball", wrote "expert" columns about his bowling action and so on. Now, it seems that there is even a new trick - claim "racial abuse", get a ban for 2/3 matches and then you can bag the series!!

If BCCI believes injustice has been done, then they should just pull out and send a strong message to ICC. It is ICC that needs India and it's large cricket crazy population. Not the other way around. It is economically viable to have our own tournaments, entertain public, have fun and make money. BCCI has to learn from the ICL example and start something within India and expand.

( Jan 07 2008, 01:09:58 PM IST ) Permalink Comments [4] | | | | |

Aussies win as expected, but...

Aussies win as expected. But, that does not change my comments earlier. While Indian second inning batting is worst, the controversial umpiring decisions had definite effect on the match. While it may sound "sour grapes" now, ICC has to do everything to improve umpiring. And Steve Bucknor has to go!

( Jan 06 2008, 01:25:07 PM IST ) Permalink | | | | |

Aussies can win any match....

Observations based on the second test:

1. Aussies lost 6 wickets fairly quickly in the first inning. It could have been easily 200 all out. But, one player [Symonds] gets multiple lives! He goes as not out.
2. So long as Steve Bucknor officiates matches India has no chance. He does not ask for third umpire at times when Indian team needs most.
3. Even the third umpire seems to "get it wrong" [what was he doing other than watching TV?]
4. Umpire (Mark Benson) asks the Aussie fielder to check whether Ganguly was out or not!! Why not call out third umpire or ask the batsman as well? [never mind even the third umpire gets wrong to help the Aussies!]
5. They can play so called "mind games". Even a bunch of former players and local media bat and bowl for their team. Other teams don't have this luxury or haven't learned the "art". They write/talk about so called "weakness" of opponents, "talk a lot" during fielding/batting. But, claim racial abuse when the opponent talks. I don't believe Aussies are talking the truth here. Why should anyone believe Aussie players? They claim catch after picking up the ball from the ground. Aussie players don't walk when they know they are out. ( "I was out when I was 30 - given not out. I can sit here and tell you about some bad decisions as well, but I won't. That's the game." Andrew Symonds tells). That talks a lot about their honesty. Why should anyone believe them? I believe (like many in India) this may be one of the tricks by Aussies. Unless the umpires have seen/heard something or TV has captured something, it is not fair to punish Harbhajan Singh based on the words from Aussies.

( Jan 06 2008, 11:28:33 AM IST ) Permalink Comments [4] | | | | |

blu-ray.. blu-ray...

I am thrilled to know this news!! And that is not without a bit of self-interest. I work on some blu-ray related activities @ Sun (more on that in future!).

BTW, if you are interested in learning about blu-ray and related Java programming platform called BD-J, you may consider the following:

• Buy a copy of the nice book Programming HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.
• Check out the code from the project http://hdcookbook.dev.java.net
• Buy a laptop with blu-ray disc drive. This will come with a blu-ray player software.

( Jan 05 2008, 11:47:15 AM IST ) Permalink | | | | |

Latest on the Scripting project

Updates on the Scripting project.

1. Updated JavaScript script engine with Rhino version 1.6R7. This version supports E4X without requiring XMLBeans.
2. Updated Groovy script engine to use version 1.5.1.
3. Updated Jython script engine to use version 2.2.1.
4. Updated Freemarker script engine to use version 2.3.11.
5. Yoko Harada is planning to update JRuby script engine with version 1.1x.

( Jan 03 2008, 04:57:14 PM IST ) Permalink Comments [3] | | | | |

13 players in a 11 player sport?

13 players in a 11 player sport? And "that's cricket"??

( Jan 02 2008, 09:53:19 PM IST ) Permalink | | | | |