Lionel Messi passes the ball to Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez (R) from the penalty spot. AFPI am not sure what has happened to the game of cricket. I am unhappy that the West Indies won the ICC Under-19 World Cup... not because India lost the final, but because the West Indies won it.
In the league matches, it was imperative for the West Indies to win their last match because they had performed very badly in all previous outings. In the last over of their match against Zimbabwe, the Africans needed only three runs to win. It was then that Keemo Paul 'mankaded' the last Zimbabwe batsman. That outcome helped the West Indies to reach the knockout phase and win the cup.
While this technique of sending back the non-striking batsman - used twice by India's Vinu Mankad during India's tour of Australia in 1947 that saw the technique becoming his namesake - is perfectly legitimate, it has not been used by many since then.
What is fair in love and war does not apply to sports. Only victories that are honest would be appreciated and a team should show respect to the opposite team and the fans.
A similar kind of ambiguous preposition is the 'tap penalty' in football. The controversy over Lionel Messi ‘assisting’ Luis Saurez through a penalty against Celta Vigo borders on whether the game can be manipulated with the help of rules.
Similar to 'mankading', such penalties are rare and was first used in 1957 during a match between Belgium and Iceland. Before Suarez, such a goal was scored by Dutch player Johan Cruyff in 1982. Messi's act is believed to have been executed in honour of the great player, who is now dealing with lung cancer. There are others who feel that Messi made the pass in order to help Suarez who on a hat-trick.
When we rewind the goal, we can see that the goalkeeper was deceived about who was taking the shot. We see the goalkeeper getting ready to face the penalty from Messi, who squared it one of Neymar or Suarez, with the latter netting it. Messi, who had completed 299 goals, could have used the opportunity to create a milestone for himself. Why did he throw that away for such a controversial goal?
Perhaps some would debate that Messi disrespected the opposing team with the act, while some would argue it was perfectly legitimate. I feel that the soul of the game should not be enslaved within its rules.
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