This is called Murder!

India lost one of its greatest chances of winning a series against Australia in Australia today. Denied, can be debated at length, but pre-decided it all seemed to be. The Indian players ate the conscience pills in every meal during the five days, whereas the Australians forgot those pills or rather ignored them cleverly in their diet schedule.

A series can be fought and lost. But the basic reason why you want to play such a series is to compete fairly and in simply put - 'unambiguous rules and procedures'.

Sports can be cruel at times. Loss is like digging a pit and burying yourself alive. Unfair loss can be so hurting that words cant describe them. The Indians certainly felt that they were playing against 13 players on the field and not 11. And truly so.

Never in the history of the game - in the recent years - have so many inconsistent decisions being made on the same occasion. This match was all about how not to enforce the rules of the game. The charm of a test match is dependent on how the decisions are taken by the human whistle-blowers. If they are incompetent or favouring one team, there is absolutely no need to travel all the way and play the game in Australia.

One can easily simulate this in a computer game and with a lot of precision too.

That the Indian team is still in Australia and lodging complaints against the umpiring and the spirit of the game is a brave thing to do. If the same thing had happened to the Australians, it wouldnt take much time for them to re-consider the whole tour.

If you ask me - did Australia deserve to win. I have one good word - Bullshit.

This is where the great captains like Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor come into play. They enforced a layer of 'gentlemanly' behaviour to the Australian team, something which the team learnt to spell only then. Now, with a man aptly named as punter, all that has been burnt and buried. Win even if you end up killing the opposition, but have that happy photo and raise the profile of the Australian team by stacking records. Thats all that matters to them.

History will not stop short of calling this team - cheaters! They cheat all the time, if it goes in their favour. Its like playing poker and cricket all together in one go.

No Indian captain, has so far, made a statement on inconsistent Australian behaviour when it comes to the spirit of the game, as has Kumble. That itself, is enough for negating the fact, that statistically, this game went to Australia, but then thats only on a piece of wood on the wall. Reality is that, they lost, because this game is not just about winning, its also about playing like a gentleman. A true gentleman!