‘Wake up from centuries-old colonial slumber

Harsha Bhogle has hit out at the English media for their criticism of India’s Deepti Sharma after she ran out England’s Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end in the third ODI between the two sides at Lord’s.

Deepti has been on the receiving end of criticism ever since she dismissed Dean at the non-striker’s end, stopping mid-way through her bowling action to send back the England batter, who was out of her crease. The wicket brought an end to India’s tour of the country and helped the visitors clean-sweep the ODI series 3-0.

“I find it very disturbing that a very large section of the media in England is asking questions of a girl who played by the laws of the game & none at all of another who was gaining an illegal advantage and was a habitual offender. That includes reasonable people and I think it is a cultural thing. The English thought it was wrong to do so & because they ruled over a large part of the cricket world, they told everyone it was wrong. The colonial domination was so powerful that few questioned it.

“As a result, the mindset still is that what England considers wrong should be considered wrong by the rest of the cricket world, much like the ‘line’ the Aussies say you must not cross having decided what the line should be which is fine in their culture but may not be for others. The rest of the world is no longer obligated to think the way England does and so we see what is so plainly wrong. So too the notion that turning tracks are bad but seaming tracks are fine. The reason I say it is cultural is that it is what they are brought up to think. They don’t think it is wrong.”

This ODI Series between India and SA is important for West Indies

If SA were to win 3-0 (India have put out a second XI), they would only be one win away from over-taking us in ODI Super League table