Random Cricket Photos Post 4



All those ruing the current team’s 0-3 whitewash by New Zealand in the ODIs possibly don’t remember the ordeals of the team that Sourav Ganguly led to the country in 2002-03, just ahead of the World Cup. Things started falling apart for the Men in Blue right at the beginning. The fans and photographers waiting for their team at the Auckland airport were unpleasantly surprised to see the captain strutting down with pairs of discarded shoes in his hands as the first sight of the team.


The shoes belonged to the 22-year-old offie Harbhajan Singh who had been asked to shell out NZ$200 by New Zealand`s Ministry of Agriculture for arriving in the country with dirty shoes. In 2002, the country had become particularly sensitive to bio-security after the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth and the mad cow diseases. And they saw the shoes covered with grass and seeds apart from the mud with great suspicion.

The authorities fumed and called it a blatant disregard. The situation was made worse by fans and photographers waiting in the background. Of course, Harbhajan Singh being stopped didn’t fail to catch their notice. He was handed a sheet with a list of possible options he had as recourse. An angry Bhajji, who at that age didn’t take a lot of time to lose his cool said to the camera guy, “Let them come to India and they would know. I don’t want to come here, man. Seriously! We are not thieves!”

Team manager Nathu Ram Choudhary, who paid the fine to end Bhajji’s ordeals, later said, “we did request the authorities to waive the fine. However, they were firm on no exceptions and, for good measure, added even their Prime Minister wouldn’t be exempted.”

In hindsight, it was the perfect beginning for a disastrous tour to pan out where the famed Indian batting line-up danced on the green pitches like a cat on a hot tin roof and surrendered the Test series 0-2 before losing the ODI series 2-5. But it all began with this.

So, what makes me happy about the photo? The rise to the final of the World Cup after such a forgettable tour wouldn't possibly have made such a great story had it not been for the drubbing the Kiwis inflicted.

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