Harbhajan Singh, Steve Bucknor, the BCCI and ICC - cricket's conspiracy of corruption

by Soma Sundara Rajan

Steve Bucknor has officially been removed from umpiring the Perth Test match. This is big victory for Indian cricket fans and the BCCI. But will the ICC board members do the same for all the countries and all future series'? That's the big question here.

Bucknor's withdrawal has temporarily stopped the problem arising from unsavoury incidents in the Sydney Test. But did the ICC do the right thing? In my view they succumbed to pressure from the BCCI following the three-match ban on Harbhajan Singh after his alleged racist comments directed at Andrew Symonds.

Sol do we now call the BCCI "dirty winners"? I agree, Bucknor made wrong decision. But the BCCI knew long before the start of the series in Australia that Bucknor was going to be one of the umpires. Indian teams have a long list of problems with this particular Jamaican official. They accepted his appointment at the time but after losing a match they find a scapegoat in Bucknor. But in manouvering his removal they diverted the media's attention from a very poor batting performance in the second innings.

'In manouvering Bucknor's removal they diverted the media's attention from a very poor batting performance in the second innings'

The BCCI are the main money providers for the ICC, but that doesn't mean they should rule the ICC, whose decision to remove Bucknor was surely made to cool the situation and make sure that the tour is continued. But would they have made the same decision if New Zealand or Sri Lankan players had been involved? The recent series between Sri Lanka and England had some real bad decisions, especially from Daryl Harper. Would the ICC have made the same decision had there been an appeal?

Don't be surprised if Harbhajan Singh escapes completely without any ban for his racist remark. The ICC have taken the first step in supporting BCCI by accepting the appeal and clearing him to play in the Perth Test. If he uttered the word "monkey" to Symonds he deserves the ban. Even Anil Kumble revealed afterwards that he pleaded with Ricky Ponting to deal with the issue privately. This undoubtedly proves that words were exchanged. Now another appeal is to be heard and, judging by the way in which the ICC responded to the BCCI response, I am sure Harbhajan will be cleared.

This is the same ICC that tookno action over bad umpiring decision during the series and who imposed a ban on Darren Lehmann for a previous racist remark. The ICC also has to deal with the so called list of "elite" umpires on which Srinivas Venkatraghavan is the BCCI's sole representative.