Hail the Lord... Ricky Ponting!

If Cricket is a 'Religion', there has to be a God! Right? Most of us silly Indians believed Sachin Tendulkar is the God and many even worshiped him. The Atheist in me has always preferred not to believe in God or Gods. But even I was blinded by my love for the religion called Cricket and my admiration for Sachin. So I was ready to accept Sachin more than any God hitherto recognized!

But what happened away from 'Down under' has changed me; changed me forever! Now I am a completely enlightened man! Actually, the incident that has changed me happened in New Zealand. I am now writing with a 'New Zeal' about the 'New God' of Cricket!

The 'Signs' were always there for us to see. But the ignorant 'We' had failed to see them. He was born with a silver blade in hand and a double edged sword for a tongue! He was caught for drunken misbehavior during junior Cricket days. He was a short man with a shorter fuse. He demonstrated time and again he had enormous flexibility. He could hit Zaheer Khan over his head with the same ease as he would command the Umpires!

Well, he showed he could be exemplary in behavior when he declared Dravid not out when the test was going nowhere. With equal authority, he declared Ganguly out on the last day of the Sydney Test in 2008. He declared Harbhajan guilty of racism even before the jury could hold a hearing. He ticked off an Indian scribe who questioned his integrity saying, "You have no business being here!". After pushing the BCCI President off the podium during his team's victory celebrations, Ponting rightly pointed out that Pawar had no business being there!

He appealed for a catch of Dhoni and it was seen all over the Cricketing world. His very wise Vice-Captain 'Pup' waited for the Umpire to declare him not out when he was caught in the second slip. He would have waited even if the catch was taken on the third-man boundary.India got only about 11 wrong decisions in that famous Sydney test. But Ponting thought the LBW decision given to him when he had inner edged the ball was the most defining 'Wrong Decision' of the match, though that came long after Benson had decided Ponting can't be given out caught down the leg side!
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=a8WOkgLiT-8&feature=related

Ponting is the 'Epitome' of virtue! And if anyone doubts this, that person has no business being around. Ponting's long time friend Adam Gil-Christ rightly questioned the integrity of Sachin Tendulkar after Sachin deposed before the Harbhajan racism row investigating committee. Integrity and honesty are expected of humans, not Gods!

And now finally Ponting has laid to rest the doubting Thomas and all his siblings and cousins. He had shown he was above the law and the Umpires when he 'Declared' Ganguly out and Benson just nodded in absolute awe. Today Ponting has gone to the next level. He challenged on-field Umpire's decision in favor of McCullum. When the Third Umpire upheld the on-field Umpire's decision due to inconclusive video evidence, he brought the play to a halt and wanted the Umpires to see light. Ordinary mortals that they are, Asad Rauf and Alim Dar couldn't see what only the Lord had seen; that McCullum was out LBW!

Just imagine this...An Australian batsman has been caught in the fifth slip. The Umpire righteously declares him 'Not Out'. Now Saurav Ganguly is asking for a just consideration from the Umpires! What would have happened? Ganguly gets banned for 3 tests and fined 2 million USD!

But when it comes to Ponting, it necessitated Javagal Srinath the Match Referee to intervene and propitiate the Lord and get the game to move on. This must be the first ever incident of the Captain of a fielding side bringing the play to a halt demanding for a decision to made in favor of his team! And he goes home Scott-free! So now all of us mere mortals should get the message!

All of you raise and hail the Lord Ricky Ponting! The New Religion will be Christianed Rickianity and all the followers will be known as Rickians!

For more details, log on to our website...

www.lordrickypontingtheonlygod.com !

From: A 'Born Again' Rickian!