Same Ol' Same Ol'

So much has happened in cricket over the past months that a passive peruser of cricket media would be forgiven for thinking the sky has fallen in. But, stop and think for a second. What do you know now that you didn't know 6 months ago? Have the events of the past few weeks actually changed your opinions about players from certain countries, proficiency (or lack thereof) of cricketing administrators or the unparalleled brilliance and grace of the living legends?

Reams have been wasted on the spot match-fixing controversy, but the revelations of Mazhar Majeed or the desperate and amateurish allegations of Ijaz Butt have taught us other than that the most delinquent team ever to take to a cricket field is still doing what the whole world has suspected, proven and kept suspecting. Clichés abound about fathers and sons, and apples and trees.

Then come reports of a certain Australian captain being advised by an Australian cricketing great to follow the in the footsteps of God one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I, for one, would have thought there was a greater chance of Mike Hussey being caught with a hooker than any member of the Australian cricketing establishment advising his current captain to follow the lead of an Indian. For all the shock and horror of such news, Taylor has merely pilfered what real Team India / Sachin fans have been quietly advocating for years. Does that make us experts too, then?

And in the "It Happens Only In India" files, the BCCI has again affirmed its unstated view that it is a nation unto itself. That compromise, humility, national pride or common sense are attributes as foreign to it as cricket is to North Korea. The Indian Commonwealth Games organising committee must be the only body of its type to allow the sport with the largest supporter base in that country to play a marquee series during the Games, without even the slightest attempt at a whimper. Suresh Kalmadi's claims that he wasn't busy augmenting his personal accounts with public funds seem increasingly dubious.

Given nothing has really changed, we can assure ourself that the treacherous trio from Pakistan will soon be off the hook on account of lack of evidence, Harbhajan Singh will be "slapped" with a ban / fine at least once during the next month and Michael Clarke will once again out-bowl Nathan Hauritz in a Test, if not the entire series.

With this in mind, will you be watching India v Australia, or diversifying with a little multi-sport action offered by the other even in town?

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