The Mishra Impact
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CHENNAI THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015 SPORT | 19 No complaints, really Satisfying feeling Pitch influence We are not complaining at all. We are playing in Indian When you take an important wicket and the team wins, it I think the wickets have played their part in making it conditions… We have been happy with what we are is all the more satisfying. It is not a good feeling when very difficult for all the batters — Hashim Amla, Ī Ī provided with. — Adrian Birrell, South Africa you bowl 15-20 overs and remain wicketless. South Africa captain Assistant coach — Amit Mishra, India leg-spinner Nagpur pitch “poor”: ICC The Mishra BETWEEN WICKETS Match Referee Lessons from the Cairns trial: DUBAI: In a major embarrass- ment for the BCCI, the Interna- Time for the ‘Fraud Law’ tional Cricket Council (ICC) on impact SURESH MENON Tuesday rated the track at Nag- pur, which hosted the third Test The leg-spinner has plotted the between India and South Africa, he irony of the Chris Cairns trial in Britain as “poor”, triggering a review of downfall of accomplished batsmen Twas that the testimony of the one person the performance of the pitch who offered direct evidence of fixing could not be taken seriously because he was a fixer! Lou under the ICC Pitch Monitoring Y.B. SARANGI not a good feeling when you Process. bowl 15-20 overs and remain Vincent confessed to fixing matches for fellow- In accordance with Clause 3 NEW DELHI: Amit Mishra, 33, is wicketless,” said Mishra, as the New Zealander Cairns at the Indian Cricket of the Process, ICC Match Ref- ripening fast, ever-ready to de- Indians reassembled here on League (ICL) in 2008. Vincent’s credibility was low — he had in eree Jeff Crowe submitted his liver. With his subtle variety — Tuesday for a practice session the past admitted to fixing matches in England too — and the report to the ICC expressing the the traditional leg-break, the in the run-up to the fourth and judge directed the jury to treat his evidence with caution. “He concerns of the match officials deceptive googly, the bewitch- final Test starting at the Fero- might have his own interest to serve,” Justice Nigel Sweeney over the performance of the ing loop, the varying length, the zeshah Kotla on Thursday. said. pitch. This report has been for- clever change of pace — the un- Mishra rated the wickets of It was not a match-fixing trial, but match-fixing had to be warded to the BCCI, which has derrated spinner has turned out de Villiers and Amla in Mohali proved as Cairns was charged with perjury and attempting to 14 days to provide its response. to be an impact bowler in In- and Nagpur respectively as his pervert the course of justice. Cairns was accused of lying under The pitch at the Vidarbha dia’s dominating performance top dismissals. “The first would oath when he said during a libel trial with Lalit Modi in 2012 that cricket ground, which is BCCI over South Africa in the ongo- be the one of AB in the second he had never cheated at cricket. In 2010, Modi had tweeted president Shashank Manohar’s ing four-match Test series. innings in Mohali, because at accusing Cairns of fixing. Cairns won £90,000 in damages and home association, saw ample Mishra may not have taken that time we did not have many £1.4m in legal fees. turn from the first day resulting wickets in a heap in the two runs and they had a lot of wick- The Southwark Crown Court in London found Cairns not in the match being over within Tests he has played, but he has ets left.” He got de Villiers with guilty. Cairns, now a free man, was intelligent enough to claim three days. provided some crucial break- a lethal flipper. that his reputation was “scorched” anyway, and there would be After the BCCI submits its re- throughs at the right times to Amla’s wicket, which ended no role in cricket for him. sponse, ICC’s General Manager keep the momentum in favour the South African captain’s 72- The judge had advised the jury that at least two of the three (Cricket), Geoff Allardice, and of the host. run stand with du Plessis span- main witnesses — Vincent, Brendon McCullum and Vincent’s ICC’s Chief Match Referee Ran- Castling the dangerous A.B. ning more than 46 overs, was ex-wife — had to be believed if jan Madugalle will consider all de Villiers twice in Mohali and his second best. the charges were to stick. The It is difficult to the evidence, including study- removing the set duo of Hashim ex-wife recounted a drunken ing video footage of the match, Amla and Faf du Plessis and Disappointed night where she confronted prove fixing, but before reaching their decision scalping the experienced J-P. Mishra was disappointed Cairns over fixing but said he that shouldn’t on whether or not the pitch was Duminy in Nagpur have been with the spinner-friendly pitch- reassured her that they would poor and if so, whether a penal- the high points of Mishra’s sev- es getting more attention than not be caught. deter players from ty should be imposed. en-wicket haul in the series so the bowlers themselves. But it is not just the subtle- The ICC will make no further far. They speak a lot about the “There has been a lot of talk ties of the law that are interest- reporting what comments until Allardice and diminutive leg-spinner’s ability about the pitch. But our per- ing in the case. Cricketers of they know. Madugalle have reached their to plot the downfall of accom- formances should also get the the stature of McCullum, Da- decision. plished batsmen. attention they deserve. Our niel Vettori, Ricky Ponting ap- The Nagpur pitch received Mishra, who was dropped for conditions have been like this peared as prosecution witnesses; the nine-week trial threw up flak from many former cricket- the rain-marred Bengaluru for a long time. We also bowled questions of players coming forward to report cases. For it is ers, including Australia’s Mat- Test, has no qualms about not well in Sri Lanka and won,” he naive to believe that with Cairns proving his innocence, he is thew Hayden, England’s Mi- rolling his arm over as often as said. simultaneously proving the innocence of cricket itself. The chael Vaughan, and a host of fellow spinners R. Ashwin and He knows the Kotla like the sport cannot rid itself of the evil of fixing without the voluntary others. Ravindra Jadeja. back of his hand. For Mishra, co-operation of players. However, Indian captain Vi- “When you take an impor- who has 65 wickets from 18 What are the lessons in the Cairns case for India? It is difficult rat Kohli and team director Ravi GIVE US OUR DUE: Amit Mishra is disappointed that the pitches in the series have received more tant wicket and the team wins, Tests, the hunt for glory re- to prove fixing, but that shouldn’t deter players from reporting Shastri had strongly defended attention than the performance of India’s three spinners. — PHOTO: AFP it is all the more satisfying. It is sumes on Thursday. what they know. In 2012 the Andhra Pradesh High Court lifted the pitch, saying that there was Mohammad Azharuddin’s life ban because it had not been pre- nothing wrong with the track. sented with any evidence beyond reasonable doubt of the for- However, South Africa had mer skipper’s involvement in fixing. The BCCI did not pursue not lodged any complaints nor the case. Unless someone from within the circle, preferably a had it made any critical com- Captain Kohli’s proud homecoming player, comes forward with evidence, it is impossible to proceed ments on the pitch. — PTI with a case where nothing is written or recorded. Then there is the question of following the money trail. The British Court was Special Correspondent re- Y.B. SARANGI and there was no great excite- which the host won by an iden- ports from Mumbai: ment of leading India on home tical margin of seven wickets told of cash drops at a restaurant in Birmingham and other The fact that South Africa’s NEW DELHI: From achieving one ground. Those were different each. However, by that time Pa- methods, but there was no link established between any player first innings folded up in 33.1 rare feat to another, Indian Test times. There was no hype or taudi had switched his alle- and the money. overs and India’s second in- skipper Virat Kohli seems des- glamour. I remember we did giance to Hyderabad. Vacuum in law nings in 46.3 overs at Nagpur tined to add new chapters to his not even stay in a five-star ho- For 27-year-old Kohli, the When the trial court in Delhi ruled that Sreesanth was not may have prodded Crowe into glorious ongoing cricketing tel. Cricket definitely was much South Africa series has to be a guilty, he was being tried under the Maharashtra Control of giving a poor rating to the pitch. journey. more enjoyable.” memorable one. Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), whose connection with fixing The former New Zealand bat- After leading the country to The debonair Mansur Ali With India taking a 2-0 lead was never made clear. The court spoke of the “huge vacuum in sman may also have taken note its first Test series win over Khan Pataudi was the other in the third Test in Nagpur, law” to deal with such cases.