While I was writing this column, India won its first round in its war with International Cricket Council (ICC) triggered after the test cricket with Aussies at Perth. Harbhajan has been reinstated and Steve Buckner, the controversial umpire, has been given the boot. BCCI is taking steps to de-escalate the tension created allegedly by racism and bad umpiring. That is a good augury. India once again proved that it could call the shots as far as international cricket is concerned, since it has a major control over the purse strings of the cricket funds. Like the cricket officials, the players also cannot attack India for fear that by doing so they could risk the fabulous endorsement income they get from Indian companies. Incidentally, in certain cases, that constitutes a major chunk of their yearly income. It is something that we should celebrate not with a negative slant of mind but with a positive outlook that we are finally reckoned in the international arena at least in cricket, if not for the caliber in the field but for the financial muscle power that we command.
I, for one, do not feel that skirmishes in cricket can be wished away by resolving a single incident. These things have been happening at regular intervals. Now, Brad Hoog, the Aussie chinaman bowler, is in hot spot on racial abuse charges. No one knows what would be the outcome. Going by the tactics of the BCCI to de-escalate the tension, the matter would end up there. Now, I come to the point. Cricket is not my subject of discussion, but the money-spinner in cricket that can swell the coffers of the Indian software developers. I was pleased with the Economic Times headline “Bad Umpiring makes IT good for Indian Cos” which appeared on 8th of January, 2008, for I believe that cricket can turn the fortunes of not only the players but also software developers. The ET story catalogues the fortunate ones in India, who made big in the name of cricket such as 3rd EYE, Satyam, Chennai-based Meru Consultants and Technologies Software and importantly Anil Kumble’s – the captain of the Indian team – StumpVision. Happily, the skipper is teaching his boys a lesson or two not only in handling Brett Lee but also to grow pots of gold in the their kitchen backyard.
Could we create more sensitive softwares that can record not only the angularities of balls bowled, direction of shots being played by stylish batsmen, misdemeanours of players on and off the ground but also what they tell, chant and think in the playground? You cannot have phones attached to each player, which can be misused like the South Africans – Hansie Cronje tried to use in one of the World Cup matches against India. But if one can develop a software package with artificial intelligence to decipher the tongue- wagging of players, when they are given out, caught, stumped, appeal overruled et al we would get a fair idea about racism, vandalism of players and officiating umpires. That would help us to nab the thief red-handed. Verification of the captain, teammates, rival players, etc. is not necessary. You may tend to laugh at this. But let me correct you. Some twenty-five years back when someone proclaimed that the future wars would be fought not in battlefields but in marketplaces, people who had the hangover of cold wars behind them laughed at him, as if it could never happen. But that was what exactly happened. That statement had become apocalyptical. Now, what the Chinese is waging a war with US not using the armoury but through the subtle terrains of trade and microchips. Europe is up against US not by marshalling their strength by polarizing the allies, as they had done during the world wars but tongue-lashing at WTO or at bilateral forums.
Cricket in the coming months and years would be played not by the power of the balls which each team can throw or the stylishness of the cover drive or the tons they make or superlative catches that they attempt or healthy running between the wicket but the power of tongue-lashing and theatrical gestures that one displays, obscene or otherwise. Umpiring will be a grave problem. Even the third umpire will not be able to capture such niceties in his video recording or auditions mainly because it is not alone player’s utterances on or off field which are important, but also his thought process. He becomes a culprit not by uttering racial innuendoes or gestures but by nursing such things in his thought process. That is why I said that to capture the train of thought of a player; one should have a software solution with artificial intelligence. Friends, the game is up. It is your turn to innovate. That will help you to erupt many controversies, help focus on such misdeeds as the fliers in newspaper columns. That is also why I feel that future cricket will be played in the minds of the players rather than in the cricket ground.
