Infamous Tie-breakers!

Last Sunday, the 14th July 2019 was a great day for the world of sports. The less pampered game of cricket proved that it is second to none in generating heart-stopping excitement! The battle between two equal-giants in Wimbledon Tennis was more than matched by world-cup cricket finals between veterans England and lesser known giants New Zealand.

The double-tie of cricket was broken by the 'count of boundaries', which most fans are ruing as the most unfair tie-breaker. The longest ever final tennis battle too was decided by the tie-breaker in the 5th set.  Many fans still argue with the count of scores that  Federer was the real winner.  Tie-breakers without exception always result in heart-breaks, both for players and fans! 

Most tied-matches are better known for controversies.  Overthrown boundary which trickled from Ben Stoke's bat is now famous as 

the 'bat of God' has even eclipsed the infamous 'hand of God' of Maradona in the 1986 world-cup football semi-finals.  The hand push of Maradona went unnoticed by the referee and the resultant goal was allowed.  Argentina won (2-1) and even they went on to  win the ultimate championship.

In fact the dictum of tie-breakers is as old as mankind.  Poet 

Valmiki could never think of an example to describe the fierce battle between Ram and Ravan.  It was a true battle between equals and even Lord Ram was clueless when head after head started reappearing for Ravan, in place of the one destroyed.  The tie-breaker was provided by Vibhishan, ironically the brother of Ravan who advised Ram to use the 'brahmastra' and aim at the 'amrit kalash' inside the chest of Ravan.  No doubt Ravan was killed, but there is no dearth of sympathizers for Ravan!

When Lord Ram wanted to bless dying Ravan, Ravan stopped him and remarked.....'Oh Ram, you are no match to me in bravery.  You won because your brother Laxman was with you and I lost because my brother Vibhishan was not with me'! 

Mahabharath is also full of unfair tie-breakers.  Karan was a 

peerless warrior and Arjun was no match for him.  Still Krishna provided the tie-breaker by inducing Arjun to aim at helpless Karan who was trying to lift his sunk chariot-wheel. Grieved sympathizers hail Karan as 'Daan Veer, Shoor'!

Even Indian history is not without unfair tie-breakers. Demand for

a separate country by Muslims had reached the stage of an endless battle.  Cunning British brought in the tie-breaker by way of partition which is not accepted even today by many on both sides of the border.

The injustice of tie-breakers haunts lives of common man too!

The sequence of triangular love too is as old as mankind.  In fact it is a powerful theme for our film world.  In films it ends with sacrifice/death of one of the contenders.  In real life many times the ruling of seniors ends the tie! Unpleasant memories continue to haunt, but life keeps moving.

Most often the mother of the family becomes the referee for 

arbitrating the tied-battle between the egoist father and the aggressive son.  Unable to take sides, the grieving mother tries to work out a compromise giving a feeling of victory to all concerned. 

Coming back to the world of sports, tie-breaker of penalty kicks

was used for the first time in a world cup football finals during 1994. The crucial penalty kick was assigned to the key player,  Roberto Baggio of Italy.  To the disbelief of the fans all over the world,  Baggio's kick ballooned out of the goal post resulting in victory for Germany.

Let me end by recalling the memory of the first ever tied-test 

played between Australia and West Indies.  This was the real tied test, as all 10 wickets fell in all the 4 innings.  The match went on till last but one ball of the match, with two runs needed by Australia to win with the last pair batting.  Batsmen had taken the tying run and the victory run was being tried. Then came the famous throw from Joe Solomon who aimed at the single wicket visible to him from 12 meters and hit the stumps directly to remove the last wicket, leaving the question......why most ties are created by run-outs?  No tie-breaker was resorted to and probably for this reason this test is remembered even today by all concerned!

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(I am thankful to the sources of pictures used here.  I solicit their permission for using them).

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