If it’s fine in Australia, why criticise India?

I was fortunate that in my very first year in international cricket I was able to travel to the then three major cricketing nations in the game My debut series was in the West Indies followed a couple of months later with a tour to England We won both the series the first time India had beaten those countries in their dens Barely six weeks after the England tour had finished it was my great good luck to be picked by none other than Sir Don Bradman to be part of the Rest of the World team captained by the GOAT Garfield Sobers to tour Australia This was after the Australian government withdrew the invitation to the South African team that was to play a fivematch Test series in AustraliaAussies united like no otherThat trip not only gave me the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the greatest names in the game but to see for myself what a united country Australia is I have been to Australia several times since then the latest being last year when the Indian team played a fivematch Test series there In most other countries that I have visited therersquos always someone who is grumbling about the shortcomings of the country Not the political kind of complaint but generally about something that they feel is lacking in their country In all my travels to Australia I have never ever come across an Aussie who has a go about his country Yes there may be political differences but apart from that the Aussies are as thick as thick can beThat first year exposed me to varying playing conditions and also to the officiating in these countries and I was staggered by the wrong decisions that were made In the West Indies the decisions were probably made with a concern for personal security against possible crowd reaction so a local hero especially a batter couldnrsquot be given out early In England it was cunning where the error was made to favour the home team when it was in a tough position and these decisions changed the course of the match In Australia it was simply the feeling that come what may Australia canrsquot lose so the umpiring was blatantly proAustralianAs a young budding cricketer growing up and devouring every word written on the game it used to hurt whenever our umpires were called cheats and worse especially by the tabloid journos from England and Australia So the impression that the umpiring in these countries would be near flawless had taken root before that first year opened the eyes to the reality that the umpiring in these major countries was downright biased for the kind of reasons elaborated aboveSubcontinent umps targetedWhen the subcontinent umpires made mistakes they were given all kinds of epithets and nasty headlines but when their umpires made wrong decisions it was called a human error And of course with the then media in the subcontinent usually born before independence they were reluctant to take issue with their counterparts from the old powers With Indian cricket now being the engine that drives the game which was once their preserve including the veto right the old powers have latched on to the pitches in India to make an issue ofAs of writing this column the Perth Test match has ended in less than two days with 32 wickets having fallen including 19 on the first day but as yet therersquos not a word of criticism about the pitch there Last year too 17 wickets fell on Day One at Perth between India and Australia and I canrsquot recall a critical word about the pitch which had more grass on it than usual The same was in Sydney where 15 wickets fell on Day One The argument as enumerated by the curator in Perth last year was lsquothis is Perth Australia and you will get bouncersquo Fine but then when the pitch affords turn why canrsquot it be accepted that this is India and there will be turn If you complain about the bounce then the counter argument is you canrsquot play fast bowling Why is there never a counter argument that you canrsquot play spin bowling when the pitch affords turn in IndiaHuman error vs cheatingIs it the old syndrome of mistake being made by their umpires being called human error while those errors made by subcontinent umpires was cheating So similarly is it that the curators there have no agenda but those in India do Itrsquos good to see some of our recently retired cricketers asking questions about 19 wickets falling in a daySo guys itrsquos time to stop pointing fingers at Indian cricket as there are three of the same hand pointing back at youProfessional Management Group