They live life kingsize

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" color:="" font-weight:="" bold="">I</span> write this before the start of the fourth day’s play in the Barbados Test. India are in grave danger of defeat, but cannot be written off completely. Cricket is a funny game. Remember Kolkata circa 2001, and the Very Very Special innings played by Laxman? But considering what has transpired as yet in this match — I refer especially to the hip-hop collapse of the side for 102 in the first innings (and for many years now) when the ball bounced alarmingly to reach navel height — there are 10 very good reasons why being an Indian cricketer is a coveted pursuit.<br />1) You get enormous fame and glory for doing very little. <br />2) You get the pretty gals from Bollywood swooning over you. <br />3) There is no better way to see the world, and at no cost to yourself. Turn in your graves Marco Polo and Columbus.<br />4) This is touchy, but nonetheless fact. You actually get paid bucks, megabucks, for such frenetic globe-trotting, living in posh hotels, et al.<br />5) Match fees that run into lakhs a year, however, are only the appetiser before the main course. You need to make only 45-50 runs, or take 3-4 wickets in an innings, to have endorsements worth crores chasing you.<br />6) This is also touchy, and also fact, though admittedly not of the same gravitas as point number four. You can wear sunglasses in the dark, look comic, yet be taken seriously.<br />7) Moreover, you don’t even need to shave. The unkempt look can easily be passed off as ‘intensity’.<br />8) You don’t have to worry too much about fitness and training routines that can help enhance performance. That’s for the Aussies and the South Africans.<br />9) You can spend time in the comfortable confines of the dressing room every time the situation in the middle gets too ‘hot and daunting’ — like the weather, for instance, or just the mood of the opposition — and no questions asked.<br />10) Best of all, you don’t even need to win consistently. Trounce Bangladesh wherever, draw with Zimbabwe, and keep the record at home impressive to keep the magic of Indian cricket alive.<br />HHH<br />India might well be peeved by the decision against Sachin Tendulkar in the second innings at Barbados, but that is not of the essence here. Tendulkar has had his fair share of luck in the series, and surely needs to rethink on playing across the line to incoming deliveries that has got him into such trouble in the West Indies. <br />Also, with two neutral umpires in the middle, allegations of bias can have little legitimacy, though the competence of the umpires is always under scrutiny. But neither of those problems is covered where the third umpire is concerned, and where the Indians appear to have suffered. <br />Chanderpaul got the benefit of no doubt at Port-of-Spain which delayed India’s victory agonisingly. And who knows what shape the Barbados Test would have taken had umpire Ed Nichols ruled Carl Hooper run out for 15, as the television replays showed so clearly? <br />Home umpires are always subject to enormous pressure. This story, told by former Australian captain Greg Chappell, is based in the 1970s when the West Indies were still a few years away from becoming the demonic side under Clive Lloyd (and later Viv Richards) that swept aside all opposition for almost 15 years. <br />The batsman was the gifted Lawrence Rowe who preferred to play off the back-foot. Just before stumps in a Test Dennis Lillee hit Rowe twice on the pads. Both times Lillee was convinced that Rowe was out, but umpire Douglas Sang Hue wasn’t. <br />Next morning, Lillee again hit Rowe on the pads but the vociferous appeal was turned down yet again. Lillee, stifling his anger, asked Sang Hue politely why Rowe was not out. The umpire was candid. "The last time I gave Rowe out LBW in Jamaica, the fans burnt my house down," he said. <br />West Indian umpires are not the exceptions, I must add. The pressure on umpires in other countries, for various reasons, is equally severe. There can be no excuse for India’s poor performance in the Barbados Test, especially on day one, but there must be concern in the ICC, which is looking so desperately to make the game free of such problems, that this series should throw up so many issues involving even the third umpire, and even when hi-tech is available. It can mar a superb contest between two well-matched teams.<br />Which raises the question whether the time has not come to use only technology for ALL decisions in cricket. Given the high stakes for players and the vast reach of television, the game has not only to be judged with fair intent, but also seen to be fair at all times.<br />Sad but true, this now seems beyond the scope of humans, however neutral they may be.</div> </div>