Bob Woolmer’s death has cast a shadow on the entire tournament. The zing is just not there. I know that there are a lot of financial implications, but should this tournament go on?
In the meantime businesses like Airtel are making money out of this tragedy. See the post on Churumuri here.
Will businesses go all out to make an extra buck?
Whats your opinion?
March 23, 2007 at 4:43 am |
The World Cup must go on.
Those bloody match-fixers must be shown that despite their efforts to control the game, it’s the game that finally wins. And that can be shown only through resilience. Killing Bob Woolmer just to ensure that their story doesn’t get out of the bag is like shutting the tap to stop a flood! The news will anyway come out one way or the other.
By continuing the World Cup (in full honesty, I assume), the players will show the people behind the match-fixing thing that truth will always prevail!
March 23, 2007 at 6:43 am |
I agree fully with mysorean. If people did not notice the ex coach of Ireland too passed away due to heart attack.
March 23, 2007 at 7:08 am |
I am very furious with the organisers of the World Cup. Those fellows didn’t even have the decency to halt proceedings for a day as a mark of respect to the departed soul.
Moreover, as you rightly pointed out Vijay, the zing is missing. Not just that, I am beginning to have a warped view of things. My mind tells me that the India-Bangla encounter was definitely fixed and so will the India-Lanka clash later today (assuming India coasts to victory).
Nothing remains in Black and White anymore… it all sounds sleazy.
March 23, 2007 at 8:09 am |
Hold On! Perspective please!! There is no purpose served in NOT continuing with the world cup. Heck, even the Olympics continued on after a day’s pause despite 17 athlethes/coaches being massacred in ‘72.
I disagree that the zing is missing. Maybe the zing is missing in India and Pakistan – it is reflective of the performance of our respective teams. But check the pulse in Ireland and Bangladesh. You’d think there was no better world cup ever than this one. I am sure fans of the Sri Lankan, Australian, South African, Australian and West Indian team are waiting with bated breath as to what happens on the field next. Fixed or not, I myself am keenly looking forward to tonight’s India-Sri Lanka stand-off.
BTW, (and sadly I might add) the hitherto non-existent coverage of the cricket world cup has come alive in the non-cricketing world (viz. USA) because it turns out Woolmer’s was not a natural one.
Yes, we will win today and da zing will be back (and Mandira will start smiling again – much to all our irritation). At least until we lose to Ireland in the Super Eights
Come to think of it isn’t the presence of Ireland in the Super Eight a match fixer’s delight? So many possibilities. I would not rule out an upset or two by the men in green.
March 23, 2007 at 9:04 am |
Murali, Thank GOD atleast you stand in a different line… You saved my effort, of course yes I wouldn’t have been so good marking all the points.
Just yesterday night I was mentioning about Ireland entering super Eight, I had almost not counted on it. Yes, we would definitely miss the India-Pakistan match, specially those played on Fridays…
Mandira Bedi – LOL!! nimmagaLa favourite lady!
March 23, 2007 at 10:12 am |
This is the problem.
If India loses also it is fixed, if India wins also it is fixed. So, both ways we have a problem. No no the problem is not with the game, it is in our minds!
March 23, 2007 at 11:24 am |
Mysorean,
The thought that “the match is FIXED” is FIXED in our minds.
March 23, 2007 at 4:55 pm |
Murali: This is not comparable to Munic Olympics. In case of a terrorist attack, yes, it makes sense to go on with the show to show them that they can’t control us. But this is not a terrorist attack and I don’t think the objective of the killers was to stop the world cup. So by calling off the event we won’t be submitting to their wishes or anything. This is just the dark side of cricket revealing itself. At such a time, when the game itself is under the cloud, it makes sense for the ICC to call off the carnival and do some introspection. Maybe even shut down Cricket, Inc. operations for a few months and think long and hard as to how to fix the problem. If they are interested in the long term health of the game that is. If all they care for is how to grab the billion eyeballs of Indian fans for their sponsors to encash, then ofcourse, they are perfectly right to go on with the show.
March 23, 2007 at 6:47 pm |
i vote for tendulkar 2011 – hopefully he will do better for usa than cummins did for canada
.
- s.b.
March 25, 2007 at 12:41 pm |
WC should not stop….Not only is it financial implications, but it is much broader than that. It’s basically telling whoever killed Woolmer “Sir, you won!!!”.
We shouldn’t do that…….what happened to Woolmer is the saddest thing in cricket, but WC cannot and should not stop midway.
Of course, it can stop for Team India…..’Men In Blue’…I so love them !!!
March 26, 2007 at 4:53 am |
Mohan, you do have a point. But I still think it is not a good idea to stop the WC. The game should be bigger than these unscrupulous guys and they should not be allowed to bring it to its knees. The problem is the ICC is such a toothless and spineless organization – unfortunately and primarily because they have to acquiesce to the corrupt and inept folks who run BCCI. But the ICC itself is a bunch of opportunists who do not have the right administrative ability to deal with situations such as this.
I believe the one person who is really keeping the ICC afloat on a day to day operations basis is Dave Richardson. I’ve heard that he is the only able administrator with the vision and competence – but he is limited in how much he can influence things. (Of course this is only hearsay.)
But look at the other side – there are checks and balances in place. The agendas of the TV and Ad execs on one side and those of the Betting Mafia on the other are possibly divergent. It is clear that the former group tries to fix matches by influence tournament rules and formats while the latter tries to fix matches as and when matches are progressing. Maybe we should learn to watch matches like we watch a Bollywood movie and wonder what has been scripted for us next and admire the script writer’s skill!