Why so much leniency on Harbhajan ?

The Harbhajan-Sreesanth slap episode is probably coming to an end. Today BCCI Banned Harbhajan Singh from playing 5 one days. This is apart from earlier ban of 11 IPL matches he received from IPL committee.

The question here is is this enough. We all know what had happened that day between Sreesanth and Harbhajan. We saw Sreesanth crying. Harbhajan has gone to extreme of misbehaviour and slapped  Sreesanth. Whole word knows about it. Whether it is just enough to ban Harbhajan for 5 international matches and close the chapter. Well, I am not the judge to decide it. But what message you are giving to cricket players. They can do whatever they like and still escape with all these minor punishments. How many times Harbhajan is going to put India and BCCI red faced. There is a Limit !!

BCCI may quote various rules and say that actions were taken as per rule book. Again, we all know, any rule may be altered or action may be suitably refer to some rules offering lighter punishments. Knowing the way BCCI operates as per its convenience, this is quite  possible. BCCI is giving wrong signals by letting out Harbhajan with minor punishment.

The Institution like BCCI need to enforce discipline among all who come under its banner and the only way of doing this is to punish hardly if someone violates code of conduct. I only hope and prey that Harbhajan understands the leniency showed by BCCI and improve or at least try to improve in future.

Critically yours

Kiran

IPL Award goes to ……………..

As IPL is gaining lot of popularity, I decided to give some awards… Please comment if you have anything to say.

• Best performance awards :

Best Team – Chennai Super Kings for being undefeated so far …

Best comeback Team – Rajasthan Royals for coming back from their worst first match defeat to win 3 consecutive matches.

Best Captain – Shane Warne of Rajasthan Royals for leading his moderate team to achieve more than expectation

Best Batsman – Mathew Hyden of Chennai Super Kings for consistency

Best Bowler – No worthy Winner

Discovery of IPL ( Batsman) – Abhijit Nayar of Mumbai Indians for superb knocks in difficult situations.

Discovery of IPL ( Bowler ) – Goni of Chennai Super Kings for always taking crucial Wickets

And

• Worst performance Award goes to

Worst Performing Team – Mumbai Indians for not living upto expectations

Worst Captain – Who else ???? Harbhajan Singh, followed closely by Rahul Dravid and VVS Lakshman.

Worst Batsman – Saurav Ganguly & Rahu Dravid … Have they scored any runs ???

Worst Bowler – All Indian national team bowlers

Most disappointing Team – Deccan Chargers , team full of stars but no result

Highly paid but least contributing player – Andrew Symonds of Deccan Chargers.

• Other special Awards ………

Kolkata Knightriders ... for all the things other than cricket i.e slogan,anthem,dress,launching etc.

BCCI ….. for roping in so many Bollywood stars

Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers …. Some pretty cheerleaders.

and Finally

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HARBHAJAN SINGH AND SREESANTH FOR THEIR SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION ( no need to mention why ? )

Your comments please

Critically yours

Kiran

Harbhajan Banned for 11 IPL matches …. Too much or Too little

Today IPL governing council conducted hearing on incident of Harbhajan slapping Sreesanth. The council banned Harbhajan from 11 IPL matches.Also it imposed fine of 100 % of match fees. Harbhan pleaded guilty and said “whatever happened didn’t come from any ill intention”. With this Harbhajan may not be able to play in rest of the IPL matches in this season unless Mumbai Indians make it to the semifinal, which look highly impossible.

Now question is whether this punishment is too little or too much. Certainly for the kind of misbehaviour Bhajji has shown, this seems to be too little punishment. Board had supported Harbhajan in all earlier incidents and since he has not improved, severe punishment such as banning him from international cricket for at least one year should have been given. The mild punishment of banning for 11 IPL matched is not going to have any impact on abrasive Bhajji.

BCCI Board has also constituted a commissioner to investigate and submit the report n slapping. There are chances that Sreesanth also gets reprimanded by board. A separate action from BCCI is also expected on Bhajji.

Some strict actions are neccessary in order institute discipline and sportsmenship in players. Hoplfully Board considers this and gives unbiased verdict.

Critically Yours

Kiran

Shaun Pollack to lead Mumbai Indians …

With IPL Committee suspending Bhajji till 28^th and Sachin still not recovered from his groin injury, Mumbai Indians declared South African Shaun Pollack as their captain.

Considering the experience Pollack has, it seems to be a Good choice. At this difficult juncture where performance of Mumbai Indians is not up to the mark and also their morale is low due to both off and on field incidents, Shaun Pollack can alone be a perfect fit. Shawn can regroup Mumbai Indians now and motivate them to register the first victory for Mumbai Indians.

Critically Yours

Kiran

More News on Bhajji slapping Sreesanth …Bhajji Suspended

Friday’s Incident of Harbhajan Singh slapping Sreesanth has provoked anger from many quarters. Following pressure from various quarters, IPL board has formed a committee to investigate the issue. The hearing on this will be held on 28^th April and Bhajji has been suspended from IPL tournament till then.

The Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvaraj Singh told it is very unfortunate incident criticizing his friend Bhajji. The Kings XI Punjab has officially lodged a complaint with IPL committee on this incident. Also the Matter was reported to the committee by match referee Farook Engineer. The IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said “ The incident is very unfortunate. BCCI has taken note of it and a committee will investigate on this issue. Based on the committee’s report appropriate action will be taken against Bhajji, as per ICC rules, if his guilt is proved”. Bhajji has been asked to explain during the hearing ion 28^th.Since this incident is very evident, Bhajji will have to face a serious action and his career will be a question.. At the same time Mumbai Indians team coach Lalchand Rajput has said that Mumbai team is with Harbhajan.

The concern here is both Bhajji and Sreesanth have to play together for India after few days. Whatever action BCCI takes, this incident will leave a scar on relationship between the two and may impact the team. The slap is not easy to forget and more so for Sreesanth who is known to speak his mind.

Critically yours.

Kiran

Harbhajan Slaps Sreesanth ….. Sreesanth cries in Public ( Video)

In my last post, I mentioned that Sreesanth was seen weeping after the IPL league match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians. The real reason is public now. It seems the Mumbai Indians stand in captain Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) slapped Sreesanth post match, while shaking hands.

Bhajji was really upset after the 3^rd consecutive loss and it was visible in his face. After the match , Sreesanth shook his hand and innocently said “Hard Luck”. This somehow provoked Bhajji and he slapped Sreesanth in anger. Totally unexpected from player like Bhajji, Sreesanth cried. This was shown live on television. It seems Preity Zinta, owner of Kings XI Punjab noticed it and asked some players to take Bhajji away from ground.Today both downplayed the incident with Bhajji saying “such type of things happens within the family “. Sreesanth on his part said “Bhajji is like my brother and we have sorted out the matter”

It is very unfortunate that such incident had happened. Bhajji needs to know how to control anger and desperately needs some dose. He is totally immature, doesn’t know how to behave, lacks sportsmanship and if he continues like this, then Mathew Hyden’s earlier comment “Obnoxious little weed” will be a perfect fit for Bhajji. The BCCI has to take some serious action against Bhajji and preferably ban him for few months so that he can learn how to behave and comeback.

As I mentioned earlier Bhajji seriously lacks maturity and leadership skills. He is not able to take proper decision, gets pressurized and looks very nervous and anxious all the time. Express time quoted him as saying “ I can not bowl and bat for other members of the team”.. This type of comment is not expected from a captain. This is the time where Bhajji has to support his team and encourage and lift their morale. I will be surprised if Mumbai Indians continue with the captaincy of Bhajji. If sachin is not fit, then they have to handover the captaincy to at least Sanat Jayasuriya, otherwise Mumbai Indians are going to seal their own feet both on field and off field.

On Sreesath’s part, probably Sreesanth will understand now how it feels to be on receiving end. But still it is very pity of him to undergo such trauma in open public place. He is still young, needs guidance and will improve over a period. However it is Bhajji who never improves or even tried to improve and needs to be punished for such intolerable action.

Watch this video thd

Critically yours

Kiran

Mumbai Indians finds Chennai Super kings too heavy….

Yesterday, in one of the most exciting matches , the Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians to register their second consecutive Victory. As I said earlier Chennai super kings seems to be a very composed team and under the captaincy  of MS Dhon. The teamwork and enthusiasm were clearly visible.

Chennai Super Kings has consolidated their position and looks to be a favorite contender for th DLF Cup. They have a able captain MS Dhoni who has once again proved right. His risk taking ability is appreciable, again he played the gamble by asking Joginder Sharma to bowl the crucial last over.Joginder Sharma didn’t disappoint his captain. Well Done..Dhoni

On the other had, Mumbai Indians clearly missed their star player Sachin and also the captainship of Harbhajan Singh was not upto the mark. Harbhajan made several mistakes like unnecessarily using 6+ bowlers in 20-20 and also he did not bowl his quota of 4 overs. However on positive front, Harbhajan lead the team from front in coming closer to their target of 209 which once seemed impossible. His partnership with Abhijit Nayar of 48 runs in 20 balls seemed to change the game towards Mumbai Indians but they were not able to capitalise on this as Harbhajan got out in 19th Over. Harbhajan is a great Player but need to be more mature to be a captain. He need to show his leadership skills if he would like to be a captain. Mumbai indians,having lost 2 games are probably waiting for Sachin to comeback and save them.

Critically Yours

Kiran