You shall steal: Indiatimes.com vs Cricinfo.com

By John Cheeran
Has the Times of India Group acquired the Cricinfo.com website?
It is quite possible.
I have evidence that these two media organisations are involved in a caring and sharing arrangement.
When I researched the internet on Robin Uthappa, I was taken to the Indiatimes site, which has given a profile on the Indian cricketer. (http://cricket.indiatimes.com/articleshow/articleshow/1230456.cms
When I began to read the profile in Indiatimes.com, it struck me that I have read this somewhere else.
Then I went to cricinfo.com and checked out their profile on Uthappa.
(http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/35582.html
Word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence, those two profiles are same.
Yes, Indiatimes.com has added two lines (original, I must say) to the cricinfo.com stuff.
May be, who knows, cricinfo.com would have stolen from Indiatimes.com. But cricinfo has credited the Uthappa profile to Anand Vasu, who happens to be a staffer for them.
Even S Sreesanth's profile in Indiatimes.com is a ripoff from what cricinfo has given.
And I don't know how many more are there.
I have mentioned in a recent post (http://johncheeran.blogspot.com/2007/01/functioning-anarchy-and-bertrand.html) that how a commentator in the Times of India pontificated about the editorial process that large media groups employ to ensure truth and facts.
I understand the meaning of that learned piece now.

Note: The wonders of the internet is that you can change your content at will.
Hence I'm producing here what Indiatimes.com copied from cricinfo.com.

Tall and robust Aiyudda Robin Uthappa, The son of Venu Uthappa (an international hockey referee) has, for a while, been talked of as a batsman who cannot be kept out of international sport for long. Although his record in domestic cricket - a first-class average of 32 from 20 matches with just one hundred - is modest his numbers in the limited-overs version recommend him well. He averages a touch under 40 with a highest of 160 and his runs come at a strike rate of over 93. At one time a wicketkeeper-batsman, Uthappa has since given up the big gloves to concentrate on batting, and now occasionally bowls medium pace.
As a batsman he has always been attractive to watch, hard-hitting, with every shot in the book, unafraid to hit the ball in the air. If anything it is his temperament that has come under question and stopped him from claiming higher honours thus far. A useful member of the India under-19 team that won the Asia Cup, Uthappa first caught the eye when he made a brilliant 66 in a losing cause for India B against India A in the Challenger Trophy in Mumbai in 2005 against an attack that included Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik and RP Singh. But it was in the subsequent edition of the same tournament, in Mohali in 2006, where he cracked a match winning 93-ball 100 for India B against an India A team that had seen a ton from VVS Laxman, that Uthappa really arrived in the big league. It won him a place instead of Virender Sehwag in the final One-dayer against England early in 2006, and he capitalised with a well-paced 86 at Indore. His next two outings were less spectacular, but time is on his side. Robin is sometimes confused with Vinay Uthappa, coincidentally a wicketkeeper batsman from Karnataka but the two are in no way related.
He played excellent domestic cricket in late 2006. As a result, he has found a space in the international squad for the January 2007 West Indies series.
(The last two lines are Indiatimes.com's original contribution.!)