Vohra’s view: Moin Khan’s punishment was a blatant no-ball

Bikram Vohra 13:52 05/03/2015
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  • Harshly treated: Pakistan chief selector Moin Khan (l).

    They sent the Chief Selector of Pakistan back home from the World Cup.

    Moin Khan’s ‘indiscretion’ was he and his wife went out for dinner to an establishment that had a casino.

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    It could have had a nightclub or a disco so what’s the fuss about? And it was 48 hours before the game with the West Indies.

    To much of the world it was rather harsh to pack him off and must have dented the morale even further seeing as how the Pakistanis just about winkled past Zimbabwe in a match they could just as easily have lost.

    I am not one for moral judgement but  it seems to be an extraordinarily severe punishment seeing as how he wasn’t playing the game as such and is just on the selection committee.

    It is a bit unrealistic to suggest he should have been meditating or plotting profound strategy in his hotel room.

    He was no high roller playing the wheel or looking for snake eyes either so there was nothing that was so damning. 

    People who play sport will understand that often you need to break off and move away to clear your head.

    I had a boxer friend who used to play nine rounds of three card poker before a fight. 

    All sportsmen have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) to keep their demons at bay.

    Call it superstition or a good luck talisman or a lucky hanky, they all count.

    Maybe Moin assumed an evening in good company would stimulate some positive feelings after the defeat by India… change his luck.

    Maybe he thought nothing of it at all, just a dinner. 

    Support for Associates: Ireland have been impressive.

    Michael Jordan wore his University of Carolina vest under his uniform.

    Tiger Woods wore red shirts while Mohinder Amarnath and Steve Waugh had to have a handkerchief in the same colour dangling from their back pockets.

    Serena Williams has to tie her shoelaces in a specific way and serve only after five bounces of the ball.

    Bjorn Borg never played Wimbledon without a beard.

    Even officials are not exempt from hang ups. Remember cricket umpire David Shepherd and his bunny hop.

    If Pakistan had taken India in their tie I don’t think Moin would have had to pay such a huge price for accepting an invitation. 

    And even then the guy has made a graceful apology, now don’t wreck a reputation for a minor infringement, if that.

    What is a selector supposed to do before a match? Is there a book of rules on what you can and cannot do.

    I hope graciousness and generosity prevails and he is reinstated.

    Meanwhile what good news that the pressure on the ICC to stop shrinking the format of the World Cup is intensifying,  especially following the splendid displays by the associate members. 

    More power to the collective elbow.

    Doesn’t it boggle the mind that other disciplines are trying to popularise their sport by spreading the word and the mandarins of cricket want to achieve exactly the opposite.

    I do believe the ICC will have to surrender on this issue because Irish ire leads the way and the others, including the super Club of Eight, concur.

    Frankly, the so called minnows are just a step behind the giants and a bit of exposure could see a lot more upsets over the next four years.

    The Irish could beat anyone on a given day so stop being petulant and spread the glory of the story of cricket, not truncate it.

    It simply does not make sense.

    The more the merrier 

    And really, you don’t need a week’s break for fielding three odd hours and then showing the world the soles of your feet on TV or your bare chest for the rest of the day.

    Get over it. Squash and tennis players play at full pace for five hours  and get back next day.

    There is also no need to have one game a day in the prelims.

    You can have two and wrap up 14 teams, even 16, inside a month. A 50-over match is a day at the office so play every second day, that’s what they are paid for.

    Such long breaks are truly namby-pamby stuff.

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