Whether it is unpreparedness of the CWC in Delhi or the Cricket ground, it the apathy of the common man leading to these blunders. The people are becoming so much self contented, they even show their full resentment.
Whoever is /are resposible for the misdeeds, must be brought to books. At least he/or she should be asked to feel sorry, so as not to repeat the mistake again.
Rest Later.

It happens only in INDIA.It's a shame that world's richest cricket board cannot produce a decent cricket pitch for ODI.This shows that the BCCI is run by businessmen who want to make only money.They do not care about the cricket.I feel for the common man who pays to watch the game on a weekend and what he gets in return, a farce. Pathetic.Appalling.Shocking.Ridiculous.
I wonder why BCCI instead of making good stadiums and pitches in India, spent millions of dollars for making a stadium in Kuala Lumpur which is hardly used for cricket. I won't be surprised if the commonwealth games also meet the same fate. Yeh Hai Mera India!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Jaietly,
Did you hear that? If you cant take the proper responsiblity (after you are busy with your riddled party), can you please leave the position for others to come in. Atleast they will 100% Dedicated to cricket.

Not Sure why politicians have got habit of going to Cricket Boards as Chairmans ans VPs.

Please take care of your courts and BJP and leave cricket for us.

ACCOUNTABILITY!! ACCOUNTABILITY!! ACCOUNTABILITY!!
The lack of it is the most evil scourge of India. Lack of education promotes it, the politicians and businessmen running the country (and BCCI and cricket) ALL need to be ACCOUNTABLE for their actions and see the difference. But alas.... my country suffers from corruption, nepotism and sycophancy. The result is national shame. We Indians call cricket a religion and then can't prepare a pitch for a match!!??

There are so many ills in Delhi's conduct of anything that I am not surprised that more games are NOT called off. Even calling off a game needs moral certitude, which we lack.
What will eventually happen is that these incidents (Delhi metro accident, CWG preparation (lack of it rather), and now the ODI will rapidly fade from our collective memories; because tomorrow is another day and another bigger issue will come up which will hog all the attention.
Maybe ICC will ban Delhi from any international matches for 2 years, but so what? Once we forget this entire episode in a matter of a few days, does it really matter?
Come next elections, does anyone vote by noting down all the incomptences of our politicians or officials? Or does the media (with planted news) have the gumption to do so for the benefit of voters?

the westindis and the indian cricket board have one thing in common bad cricket pitches , loads of money (BCCI) and just as poor as the west indis cricket board when it comes to investment

Causing diappointment to so many spectators is real sin. What is atonement.

why are you into pontification, Mr blogger! this is not the end of the game, or the end of the road, for those who run it in our country. the game shall live on. knowing india, it will pull off the CWG too, not need to get pessimistic

One good thing indians have is a short term memory.Disasters are talked about intensively and gradually forgotten.Its not new and the habit of taken for granted is doing harm.we indians, icons and symbol of peace, i think are waiting for the saturation point,then i hope would be eyes wud be opened.......i only wish that by then it should not be too late.......

Why all the fuss about the pitch from the cricketers? As I see it, these guys are paid huge amounts to play. So if an odd ball bounces and hits a guy in the head, so what. Isn't that what professionals are for? Regardles of what TV commentators think (all ex cricketers), these players are 'circus clowns' being paid to do a job. Sissy Sri Lankan team, and equally sissy Match Referree. It's like enforcing a speed limit on F1 races!

shame..................................................................................................................

Rajesh, it was inconceivable that you would not take your righteous stand on this. You seemed to have batted out the whole match, and carried your bat through. Now if we have a similar bouncy track, and we know exactly where the 'springs' are dug-in, we get a gold medal in the CWG. Nice to have guys like you to speak out! It was a 'wicked' 'wicket', wasn't it? Masquerader

i think the plan was to make a bouncy pitch that will help nehra and the other bowler (locals)that went totally wrong.

Gee,........ Neither (entirely)Grassy nor Dusty. Neither good(but consistent) bounce nor low bounce.Steep, inconceivable bounce.

rightly said, "Hair transplants not good !"

Dear Rajesh, You summed up present situation in India right now. Corrupt politics, beaurocracy, lack of accountability among everyone. It's just a cricket match which has been abandoned but unfortunately this is not the only thing we face today. Look at the cases around us, a budding tennis player, teenager commited suicide because of some corrupt DGP, whose job was providing protection. A Governer has misused his position. These are the cases which came out. You can imagine how many these kind of cases must be lying under the cover. Still everybody will just talk for some time and then forget (which unfortunately we are very good at). Why to blame everybody, we should look inside ourselves how much accountable we are for our jobs, whatever job that could be. Before changing system, every Indian should try to change himself/herself. I am sure not everybody's conscience is that honest and everybody is in their comfort zone. Therefore, I strongly feel that youth(fortunately which is very large in number)of this country should rise above medicority and fight against these evils within us and outside. Why should we leave fate of this country in the hand of these corrupt old people. This country seriously need a revolution.

I AM VERY SURE THE WORLD KNOWS INDIA IS A WELL MATURED NATION IN ALL ISSUES. CRICKET IN NOT AN EXCEPTIONAL. THE SHAME FULL INCIDENT OF DELHI ODI, MADE THE INDIAN DOWN IN FRONT OF THE WOLD. THE OFFICE BARRIERS OF CONCERNED TO THIS CASE OF ALL DEPARTMENTS,
CANN'T BE PUNISHED BY FILLING A CASE AGAINST THEM IN COURT, AS THEY WORKED AGAINST THE NATION BY CHEATING THE CRICKET FANS, AND BROUGHT THE NATION DOWN IN FRONT OF THE WORLD.

AT YOUR POSITION IT IS POSSIBLE PLEASE THINK OF THIS.

MY DEAR FELLOW INDIANS PLEASE DO YOUR BIT, SO THAT THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE AROUND US SHOULD NOT CHEAT US AGAIN, FOR THE MOST EXPECTED DELHI "COMENWEALTH GAMES 2010"

It is a disgrace that the Delhi Cricket Assn. in conjunction with the BCCI cannot produce a good cricket pitch for the 5th and final ODI against Sri Lanka. Why should the paying spectators be penalised for the inefficiency of the officials in charge of pitch preparation. The officials and persons in charge should be barred for 5 years from any connected cricket actrivities. Those who paid money should be refunded of their ticket value within 7 days. It is a disgrace and shame that the richest Board of cricket allowed this to happen. As an Indian American I feel let down by the officials. A quick enquiry committee should be formed with a dead line date of 15 days to come out with their findings. I feel let down by the officials of DCA and the pitch committee and why should the Delhi paying public suffer for the inefficiency of officials. The officials involved should be penalised heavily with fines and suspension.

What a shame and disapointment.India is better off to call off 2010
olympics,India is not capeable to do even one thousendth of percents what china did for olympics.2010 games will not be only disappointment but also a disaster,shame and humiliation for india and rest of the world.India still have a chance to save her face,so
its time to smell the coffee and act...........cancel the 2010.games

JAI HOU

I just saw the highlights clip.I thought it was a good bowlerfriendly wicket(which I like ) and sanga said after he had lost the toss the pitch look good.the after effect of this incident is that here after we are going to see only the batsmen friendly feather beds in india where the first team score 350+ and the team batting second chases it successfully. Bowlers are pasted. sad.

Why blame politicians -

This is not new in India.

It is time to DELINK politicians from non-political organizations, Whether it is sports or Charity. ALL laws relating to POLITICIANS 'decorating' non-politicial posts must be reviewed and changed. Some of these are more than 100 years old.

Hi Rajesh,
Nicely wirtten article except that you have unnecessary included Arun Jaitley and his party. Be it DDCA (BJP) or BCCI (Congress), these bureaucrats are spoiling sports. Just see the example of RCA (Congress) where there is immense fight without any cricket match being played these days :-). And who is heading that now?psssssssssshhhhhhhh. Instead of contesting and winning for no cause, these politicians shud try to make CWG a success which is far from reality.

The Author talks complete rot. Dump him in the garbage where he bolongs.

This is the way delhiwale do their job...!

I would but the blame squarely on BCCI/DDCA to organize a match on a pitch where even Ranji games are not played. It is easy to put the blame on the curator(??/Daljit Singh) but even he was not sure how it will behave as it is a freshly laid surface.

I would like to add by saying that, Agreed that wicket yesterday was bad and game was rightfully called off. But I also believe that games like 1st ODI at Rajkot should also be called off, because bowlers were being massacred. Was that a good wicket to play cricket on?
I guess we care more about potential physical damage to batsmen on wickets like Delhi than psychological damage that Rajkot like wicket can do to bowlers who were playing as well as those watching and want to play for India one day.
Or is it safe to say that bowlers also don't care as they get paid so much these days?

Why is it that only the batsmen get to appeal for bad pitches. Why can't we have appeals from bowlers on dead wickets which don't seam and spin? With the amount of protective gear that we have, I thought that the Kotla wicket was perfect for an absorbing day of cricket, if only the batsmen had shown some application.

everytime i read a blog like this......i feel like penning down all that is there on my mind....all the disgust i have towards this country.....
but i dont.....kyuki ye sab karke bhi kya hone vala hai.....i have absolutely no hope for this country......60 years after independence....we have only become a little richer.....nuthin much has changed.soldiers still die on the border...with little recognition....politicians still run scot free having committed a murder....or even worse...a rape....news channels show what is happening on big boss....25 years after bhopal tragedy....victims still await their dues.......politicians son out on parole on account of his ill mother.... goes pubbing...
church nuns are raped in front of policemen....
man hides in toilet of aircraft and comes to india ....without ticket....
ajmal kasab ....one year after he carried out a brutal massacre on the streets....denies all charges ....the govt spends 35 crore on his security.....
kitna kachra hai boss is desh mein! but fir bhi mera bharat mahan....hai na ?

For our leaders every place is a play ground and people and their rights are the instruments to play with. It is out of cricket, but one can relate it after few months. What happened to Babri Masjid, it was countered by 1984 incidents. So now a ground has been laid to counter the inefficiencies to come up for CWC. We as citizens of india, with poor memory due to various personal and public reasons forget all these during the time of voting. What is important is, every one of us need to change ourselves in our approach towards all these mismanagements done by our so called leaders. We should keep in mind, what we did against price rise of Onions and what we are doing when every thing is sky rocketing in their prices. We as citizen of this country need to wake up and start at our society and street level and work for our benefits.

We as Indians have to understand that the whole point is about the politics. Politicians have been the scavengers of India who have lived on the happiness of millions.
SANGRAM has made many points criticizing India but that is not the right approach. With so much poverty, diversification in religion and lack of education India is still doing great. I have lived in the U.S. for 10 years. There are at least 3-5 shootouts in each city everyday (multiply that with 50 states and the number of cities they have), a rape every 3mins and the biggest client of Indonesia’s child prostitution is also USA. Still some Indians who have chose to live abroad and even those who live in India choose to be bum-lickers of other countries.
No doubt, Delhi’s abandoned game is a SHAME but stop criticizing your country.

Common Rajesh, don't be so pessimist. Cancellation of matches for hazard from pitch has happened in past in other parts of world too. Such chaos is a part and parcel of the citizens of the Indian nation.
The 2007 World military games at Hyderabad and 2008 commonwealth youth games at Pune have established India's ability to host international events. The 2010 CWG will also pass through inspite of the money thirsty inefficient management.

1. Let's agree all that we as a nation yet to learn to run "Organisation" and its aim/motto.Sports organisations(hockey,cricket,olympic association) are run(rather dictated) by people who are far from the game itself.Our political parties are lead by people who are yet to face elections. Most Public or Private sectors are headed by administrators who yet to know how a day's work progresses in their manufacturing. The missing link between Administration Unit and the Core Unit results in unwanted displeasure (could be at time demotivating the staff on work).
High time we stop asking "WHO's the boss; how to make the boss happy". May it be Gill or Pawar or Jaitley or Kalmadi all miss (or forget) their own cause of existance in those high powered places.
2. Coming to the point of Cricket- what would have happened if the same match is a Ranji tie? Can any Ranji captain/umpire dare to call the match off?Suppose a bowler comes out picking 8 or 9 wickets? HE would definitely be getting a Visa to Indian Team; next is apathy.

Nice article Rajesh. Only hope that we are on the threshold of an accountability awakening, where in we start at least thinking to hold people accountable for their deeds.
And yes I am an hopeless optimist.

This is just a trailer. Wait and watch, the Commonwealth games will also be pulled out of Delhi. In fact, the Delhi should not been designated as the host for the CWG in the first place. There are many other cities in India that should have been nominated as the host. Nagour for example. It would have given a big boost to economy of Nagpur and the districts around.

extremely well worded article. Rajesh .. kudos!!
... am sure our genuine concern can't be treated as 'pessimism' on any account ... that's my reason of hope against HOPE!!
I sincerely and in all earnestness hope, that we awake from our stupor or be prepared for impending SHAME!! We need to be accountable to our conscience alone ... if 'alive' !! otherwise it's 'Kotla' or 'Ruchika' alike ... rapes, molestations, terrors of all sorts will continue & ..... no number of subsequent petitions / blame game/s will do ANY good ..

If I remember correctly, India organised Asiad in Oct 1982 at a very short notice when some country (I dont remember the name) could not hold the games due to internal problems. We could hold these games successfully which was appreciated by one and all. But Indira Gandhi was at the helm of affairs at that time. We have the capacity and the capability to organise events of such magnitude. One or two rotten eggs (who could also be responsible for the Kotla pitch) does not mean that as a whole we are good-for-nothing fellas.

Asking Jaitley's resignation is a good move. But, if he's replaced by another politician, it would mean that the public anger has just been made use of.

And India wants to compete with China. The world has still not forgotten the Beijing Olympics. With this attitude how can we even think of competing with China.

Media has gone bonkers. Can't we expect anything ebtter from them? This was supposed to be an administration problem!! Whya re we bringing in politicis into this? Why are we quoting BJP and Cong. For gods sake leave out the politics. What happened at Delhi was a shame no doubt, but its even more disgraceful when Cong and other political parties tries to gain a point over Jaitley using this as a reason! Shame on politican. Leave politics out of cricket!!

Rajesh..A fabulous blog..I would like to ask..Should we be ashamed? Shameless incompetent people are leading us to 'neverland' which we are solely to be blamed for. We shouldnot feel ashamed because the target we have set for ourselves to be achieved in 21st century is too high and incomprehensible atleast till the affairs of the nation are handled by such people. Its not to say i have something against Mr Jaitley, who ofcourse is one of the brightest minds in political circle. The status quo will remain and such paroxysms will not have any lasting effect...

The people we are responsible for this would got at least 3 years if imprisonment in country like US/UK and might get 5 years in China. People in India are asking a sorry for them.
It looks like response to ask for sorry was written by some Sarkari Baboo type MAN.

The author has very well said that BCCI and cricket in India are sympomatic of the rot that has engulfed India in every sphere..Be it be education, IT companies, general infrastructure.

Education: We are master in promoting "ROT and LEARN" education in the world.

IT companies: We have been infamously labelled as "OutSourced","Cheap labour" by the world. After 15 years of stint in IT we failed to develop anything that the world can remember us. We are like scavengers eating on the gr8 product companies like google, Oracle , Microsoft, IBM, APPLE despite employing/exhausing our entire army of engineers, managers, scientists in IT.

3) Adminstration and Infrastrucure: The lesser said is better on the way we manage/administer. Somebody said, we don't require visionaries, just require to copy the existing administration/infrastructure existing in the west. And this rot happens despite having the largest functioning democracy in the world where we pledge to elect the best leader and administered by the cadre of IAS/IPS/civil service.

There is no doubt we are a mediocre country managed by mediocre people in a mediocre way. But China is in no way, a mediocre like us. But there also were suspicions regarding management of Olympic before, during and also after the games. And it is clear that these were not Indians who were critic of Chinese. These were either Chinese media or international media. Similarly lot of doubts were raised after Sydney Olympics where ill treatment was meted out to aborigines of Australia. And this was also brought to light by international media. So if this is the only yardstick of gauging the mediocrity of a nation then China and Australia should also be mediocre nations. But I am sure nobody will accept this.
Now over to Delhi. What happened at Delhi is no way welcome. But had the same happened in Australia, England, South Africa or even New Zealand or West Indies, no words would have come out of the mouths of even commentators what to say of abandoning the match. The argument would have been the same - if the match can be played for almost 25 overs why it cannot be played for 100 overs. Furthermore, had SriLanka been pulling off nicely with Dilshan and Tharanga as they have done in last 4 matches, they would have opted out of the match!No way.
We are mediocre and we want to be like that because we donot believe in our capability. Blaming everything on politicians would never yield anything good. We have seen enough double standards in Cricket for countries like Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand on the one hand and other countries on the other hand but we never dare to raise voice. The example of match fixing is obvious where Mark Waugh, Shane Warne and others have b een let go easily and Md Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja etc are still suffering from it. But again we are a mediocre nation and we should not expect anything better for us.

This is result of too much politics in everything...now even a sweeper don't want to execute his simple duties because he is may either offend someone or have will go against wish of one side.

This is a very sad situation, that now, even when things become apparent, no one gets punished. If this will continue how do you expect anyone to work when they know that there is no punishment for not performing you duty.

Why does Delhi or Mumbai has to get every big event? Do we think - rest of India doesn't deserve?
Commonwealth Games - Delhi
Formula one - Delhi.
Any opening or closing ceremoney in Cricket - either in Mumbai or Delhi.
All other cities gets penuts.

Does everything sports events happening in Washington, DC?????? They give importance to every city in US.

Most of cities in India conducted the events successfully. Chennai is conduting ATP Mens Tennis for more than 10 years which any single incident. Bangalore is doing that. Chennai conduted South Asian Fed Games on. Kolkatta done many Cricket events well.

Why the rest of India don't deserve and only Delhi/Mumbai has to get? It is everyone money.

Common!!!! Why why!

Hi Blogger, look at this via this angle. Cong. govt in Delhi has a chance to get at Arun Jaitley. Through Cricket politicians are playing dirty games, is common knowledge. Who is Daljeet Singh. what went into preparing this pitch. This man has not spoken yet. He needs to be pulled up real good. Secondly, Sri Lanka cricket team is a team of COWARDS AND CHICKENS. One simple question: would they opt out if the score was 150 for 1? They opted out after blaming the pitch only because they could not bat and were 85 for 5. The match referee is an Australian and obviously they hate the Indian Cricket in totality. So, he canceled the match. IN THE FUTURE, DO NOT ALLOW ANY AUSTRALIAN, UMPIRE, REFEREE OR COACH INTO INDIA. Such episodes will not repeat. Get my point now!!!

I do not agree with the author's comments. There were only 5-6 balls that bounced above the normal height and an equal number which kept low. I think Sri Lanka who were already 83/5 at that stage did not really wanted to play any further, maybe reluctant to face yet another humiliating defeat. In my view, they chickened out.
The other point being comparison of a cricket pitch with preparation for commonwealth games. 10 abnormal deliveries in a cricket match cannot be called as a complete failure. I am pretty sure that commonwealth games would not solely depend on a single track where athletes have to face a 140km/h leather bullet hurled at them. The preparations are well behind but I am pretty sure that in the end everything would turn out well. Indians in general and delhites in particular have scant regard for unnecessary rules & protocols set up by foreign, good for nothing committees. They would never be able to understand that resilience and street smartness of Indian public in another 100 years. They want games, they would get games, just don't ask how...

ANOTHER ROT THAT IS ENGULFING THE NATION IS THE GROWING VANDALISM. AFTER THE MATCH WAS CANCELLED , A FOOTAGE SHOWED AN "ANGRY" SPECTATOR HAPPILY BREAKING THE CHAIRS OF THE STADIUM WITH KICKS. IT WAS DISTURBING. WHAT IS MORE DISTURBING IS THAT NO ACTION IS TAKEN AGAINST SUCH VANDALS. I WAS REMINDED OF LEGAL ACTIONS TAKEN AGAINST SOME CRICKET SPECTATORS SOME TIME BACK WHO APPEARED ON A NEWSPAPER PHOTO MAKING MONKEY-GESTURES AIMED AT ANDREW SYMONDS. I WISH SIMILAR ACTIONS WERE TAKEN AGAINST THESE UNCIVILIZED PEOPLE.

Rajesh…I totally agree with the title of the blog … “Surprised so few games are called off” … The game was called off because the batsman was too much of a pussy to carry on batting!! I wonder why didn’t the bowler walk out of the game and refuse to bowl on the Rajkot pitch?? The Rajkot pitch was more hazardous to the bowler than the kotla pitch was to the batsman! Would the game have been called off because it was a bowler’s graveyard?
16 deliveries out of 24.2 legitimate overs bowled either bounced insanely up or stayed down in kotla. All 100 overs bowled in Rajkot were dangerous to the bowler!

Initialy after seing the highlights clips, I thought it was just a bowler friendly wicket which was prepared to help the delhi based bowlers and i made some comments on those lines. I like cricket in pitches which provides bwlers too some kind of help rather than watching cricket on dead tracks where they pile up mammoth totals and the second team eventually chases it.but here they prepared a non playable wicket where no batsmen could have played with any kind of authority.winning the toss solely helped the dhoni and team facing the chin music.

For our leaders every place is a play ground and people and their rights are the instruments to play with. It is out of cricket, but one can relate it after few months. What happened to Babri Masjid, it was countered by 1984 incidents. So now a ground has been laid to counter the inefficiencies to come up for CWC. We as citizens of india, with poor memory due to various personal and public reasons forget all these during the time of voting. What is important is, every one of us need to change ourselves in our approach towards all these mismanagements done by our so called leaders. We should keep in mind, what we did against price rise of Onions and what we are doing when every thing is sky rocketing in their prices. We as citizen of this country need to wake up and start at our society and street level and work for our benefits.

Usual from you Mr. Kalra.....Pessimistic and highly exaggerated!!