India's crying wolves are to blame for alienating umpires

India's crying wolves are to blame for alienating umpires
IAN CHAPPELL

At least in a boxing match, the second can throw the towel into the ring when the contest is one-sided. There must be a few Indian players wishing that there were a cricketing equivalent as Australia survived a torrid opening spell from the pace bowlers to once again grind their way into a position of dominance.

The Indian fast bowlers have found plenty of ways to harass the Australian opening batsmen and neither Michael Slater nor Greg Blewett looked comfortable in the early overs. This is an amazing turn around because they were in fine form against the formidable Pakistan pace duo and played a big part in that series win. They were unable to survive the early onslaught, but despite a lot of uncertain moments early on, Justin Langer eventually prospered to become the first player to score a Test century in the year 2000.

The rest of the Australian batsmen only managed to play support roles to Langer, even though Mark Waugh was celebrating his 100th Test. The elegant Waugh is not back to his best despitebeing cheered all the way to the wicket by his home crowd. They sensed that a glorious lofted six off the bowling of Anil Kumble was the sign that it would all come flooding back, but Waugh fell victim to the part-time bowling jinx that he participated in at the MCG.

Mark may not ever recover his best form as he has now reached that age where the slow downhill slide starts, but playing in such a powerful side he could survive for some time yet.

There are no such comforting thoughts for the Indian players. Even the Indian over rate has been abysmal throughout the series and the tardiness is highlighted on days where the hours are extended. There is no excuse for falling as much as three overs behind in the space of one hour and whilst it is understandable that Sachin Tendulkar wants to have plenty of communication with his bowlers, I can't believe the umpires allow him as much leniency as we've seen in this series. Why India would want to be in the field for any longer than is necessary in their currentform is beyond me.

To see India playing so poorly must be devastating for such a competitive and proud cricketer as Tendulkar. The worry for Indian cricket must be that it will have such a draining affect on the little maestro that eventually it will eat away at his skill with the bat.

Let's hope that doesn't happen, but even Sachin must now be tempted to throw the white towel into the ring on behalf of his team-mates and cry, ``Stop the fight.''