by Rex Clementine

A lot has been said about that catch in the World Cup final that Suryakumar Yadav pulled out of thin air last week in Barbados. Some say that Surya’s shoe touched the boundary cushion and it should have been a six. Others believe that more television angles should have been reviewed before the decision was made. A few plainly claim that India cheated. Basically, no one wants to see India winning a World Cup and most of us would be quick to condemn them. But let’s be realistic.

Of course, India is no paragon of virtue. But not to give them the credit for pulling out a win from the jaws of defeat is being spoil sport. That’s not cricket. How can you just not marvel at Surya’s athleticism. It was one of the best catches that you’ll ever see. In fact, the World Cup was slipping away from India. Then Surya reminded us of two things; the glorious uncertainties of this great game and Clive Lloyd’s words, uttered five decades ago, ‘catches win matches.’

One point that critics have ignored is that the game was officiated by cricket’s most experienced umpires. They have to be on top of their game to be assigned for a final. An error not only will deny them a big final again but they are set out to lose big time.

Take for example what happened in the 2007 World Cup final at the same venue. The umpires misinterpreted the playing conditions. The ICC came down hard on all of them and as a result all officials, Jeff Crowe, Steve Bucknor, Rudi Koertzen and Billy Bowden were sacked from the next ICC event.

Match officials are professionals and if they don’t live up to the mark, they will face the consequences.

The anger towards the Indian team to a certain extent is understandable. They played three of their first round games in New York. They also had the luxury of playing a warm-up game in New York while the rest of the teams were flying across the United States and the Caribbean. That’s not on. Sri Lanka for example played their four first round games at four different venues. But to say that India cheated to win a trophy is untrue and unfair. It’s sour grapes. But if someone wants to question spirit of cricket, then that’s a different debate altogether. Rishabh Pant received treatment when South Africa were going hammer and tongs. That break took momentum off Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller. Then, immediately afterwards Klaasen was dismissed. Maybe match officials should have intervened  during Pant’s extended break and should have asked him to get his act together. But having said that, India were within the time limits. Had they exceeded the time they would have been penalized. Within the rules yes but not maybe within the spirit of the game.

We’ve got to admire the skill levels of the Indian team.

Yes it’s true Jasprit Bumrah turned the game on its head in those two overs. But with the key bowler’s fours overs exhausted before the back end of the innings, Rohit Sharma was having serious problems. This is where the expertise of Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya came in handy. There was little room for error at that stage and both bowlers held their nerves. India were deserving world champions.

You just sense that any other opponent be it New Zealand, Australia, England or Afghanistan wouldn’t have lost the final with run a ball required in the last five overs. This is just South Africa doing South African things. They choke when put under pressure. Or become cocky when the game is almost in the bag. It’s an age old problem for South Africans dating back to Kepler Wessles time. Maybe they should teach how to handle pressure at Grey College. Or the cricket team should learn a few lessons from the rugby side, the Springbocks. They have won four rugby World Cups. No other team has won that many titles. How many have All Blacks won you may ask? Well, they have won only three.

As for India, they will do well by ensuring there’s  a fair playing field for all. At the moment, India gets the lions share of ICC revenue. They get to host most ICC events than any other country. That’s not fair. Let’s hope sanity prevails.

But there’s a bit of fun here too. All this while England and Australia controlled cricket and dictated terms. In fact, they even enjoyed veto power. Lord’s simply turned down deserving countries Test status without being upright. In fact, they reduced the number of bouncers West Indies  could bowl when Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner were running riot. It took one man to change the equilibrium of cricket. Jagmohan Dalmiya is his name. The first Asian to become ICC President, he took the game’s headquarters from London to Dubai. The rest as they say is history. Now Jay Shah is taking things to new levels. It must be mentioned that Jay Shah has been extremely supportive of Sri Lanka. He’s only flexing his muscle against the big boys like Australia and England. You can only sit and watch the political games he plays across board rooms.