For Murali, the Hits just keep on coming

Who does Murali remind you of?
Aha-got you didnt I? Murali himself coz there hasnt been one like him in ages.At least not since the days cricket started its 24 circus on TV, when perhaps it was possbile for a crooked arm to escape notice or for a unkind prank to escape the umpires censure.But ever since the Kerry Packer revolutionised the game the players themselves have become the object of everyones **attention**. Murali, can count himself as its most famous victim.

When was the last time a slightly, built mischeviously smiling, cunning off spinner came along. First firmly established himself as the worlds premier off spinner, outlasted his peers saqlain and Bhajji who fall to injuries,motivational problems and the like, before zooming along to become the claim the record for the test wickets.All this playing for a
traditionally weak test side.

Murali remains an enigma for no apparently fault of his.His bowling action crooked as it is had raised no hackles initially with umpiring community.Those were the days when SL was but a dot on the cricket map, and apart from an ocassional win they hardly troubled statisticians.Murali was just another off spinner, who did take wickets,but what the heck did it matter.SL lost, and it was inconsequential that one among them had a crooked arm.All was nice and cool in ICC's Fairyland. But diasaster was round the corner.He was called for throwing Down Under.That infamous tour was marked by biterness and resulted in 2 major cricketing breakthroughs.One- SL under the wily Ranatunga united
themselves as a cohesive force and used it as a motivation to win the following WC in the subcontinent beating the Aussies in the Finals. Secondly Jayasuriya and Kalu changed the batting principles head to toe, launching a furious attack on the Aussies in the first 15.

Following this he came under intense scrutiny only to come out unscathed thanks to the Biomechanics experts (an absolute joke !!)and then back in trouble again and redeemed again.Its a bit of a cat and mouse game really with a touch of farce to it Allowing one exception to the rule is all but making it the norm for the second and third and dozens
to follow.Are blind allowed to drive?Nah, no chance ,he's physically unfit for that.Conversely, do fit players compete in paralympics? They would gain an unfair advantage wouldnt they? Makes sense to most except the men who matter in
the ICC's quarters.

I have a sneeky feeling that all umpires doubt muralis action but refuse to call him.Perhaps its a matter of letting sleeping dogs lie or perhaps the Umpires lack the guts to call him.Whatever, Murali has the unique distinction of being a record
holder with no one quite willing to accept him as one.And whoever does, happens to possess a SLanlkan passport no doubt.There has been no shortage of **controversial champions** in sport.Ben johnson won the 100 m dash before the world came to know that he was on steroids.Result- stripped of his gold.Mike Tyson won and won ugly , Michael Schumacher was once considered a dirty driver (Gamesmanship is another word for it.).However the difference being that Mike Tyson still evokes memories of stunning KOs, of ferocious upper cuts and silvery jabs.No one questions his abilities as a Boxer. (Keep aside his extra cirricular activities for a while), Schumi for all the dirty press he got in the past has secured his place in history as the all time F1 great. **Champion stuff mind you**. In cricket itself, Javed Bhai and Dennis Lillie played hard and played dirty.Almost always.When the straight method didnt work, Plan B was used.But did they ever gain unfair advantages? Not in my memory. It was champion stuff from champion players who havent always taken the normal route.But they never crossed limits of their sport.

With Murali though, its a complete tragedy .We should have been celebrating his art, marvelling at his persistence in bolwing dozens of overs an innings, been thrilled by his guile, in drawing the batsmen forward for what he thought would be a gorgeous cover drive whch instead turned out to be a bowled through the gate or a stumping as a result of falling over.We should have been singing enconiums for him and the press should have heralded him as the best ever off spinner in modern day cricket if not all time.Instead we read despair at the very fact that even with such a twisted action he is allowed to bowl.We resent him his achievements, and end up demonizing him.We reports each day about
some half hearted attempt by the ICC or the SL ckt board to sort the matter.We read the Aussie PM calling him names, Bedi calling him a Javelin thrower and Naseer hussain cussing and calling him a F****** cheat. The head of the sports reigning champion country, a widely respected spin bowler (Only for his bowling ,I suppose coz when it
comes to humility and respect Paaji doesnt give two hoots to anyone) and the latter the former captain of the English side.These are the only a minority of those who have been so frustrated by the whole saga that they had no choice but to vent their feeling in press.

The ICC has goofed up badly.They have dilly dallied the whole issue, hoping it would pass away as a bad nightmare, instead it can become a daily crisis, a **sardard** to deal with , with no solution in sight and no one looking for one.
Perhaps they look forward to the day when the tiny offspinner calls it a day, hangs up his spikes and tells his grandchildren the tales of his exploits from faraway lands , from Lords to Lucknow, from Peshawar to Perth, and the umpiring community heaves a sigh of relief and cricket goes back to its nice old days when matches were played on uncovered pitches and enjoyed by lazy fat englishmen with tea and Biscuits, with their Daily Telegraph , pet poodles and cigar pipes to give em lads a soft cheer or two.

Thats not happening I can tell you!!!