Sportsnob – Critics Corner

The interest in the lives of the Bachchan family, India’s continued love affair with King Shahrukh Khan,the effigy burning in Kolkotta every time time Saurav Ganguly is dropped and Bangalore’s continued infrastructure problems. There are some things that never stop and now one can safely add one more to that list- the juvenile almost moronic tussle between the Indian and Australian teams.

In the latest episode, Australian opener Matthew Hayden referred to Indian spinner as an obnoxious weed further adding fuel to the fire that has raged through the summer. To be fair to Hayden, it is easy to understand where all the frustration was coming from- the fact that Andrew Symonds and him are state mates and best friends. But for a man who is 37 (thats right 37!) and who is not exactly known for good on-field behaviour to make such a remark is simply astounding. And why was it necessary to make this comment in such a turbulent time just speaks volumes of Hayden’s maturity. He would do well to learn from his opening partner- Adam Gilchrist.

Further, in the same radio interview, Matthew Hayden went on to wind up Ishant Sharma (a 19 year old to put things in context) by challenging him to a boxing match. Pure mental disintegration if you ask me and I am just hoping that Ishant doesn’t catch the bait and turn up in the one-day finals, emotionally wound up. And you can be certain that if either Harbhajan or Ishant react to this on the field, Hayden and Ponting will run up to the umpires and complain.

Petty behavior showing both teams in poor light:

There is not much that can be done about the influence of BCCI on world cricket, but both teams can behave better. Over the past decade, the Australian team’s performances on the field have probably made it the best in the history of the game but in their behaviour, they have more resembled the classroom bully (and I am not exaggerating here) than world champions. Their behavior is purely shaped to provoke the opposition (and Hayden’s remark has taken it off the field as well) but their response to criticism is standard- “we play the game hard but play it fair”.

India’s bunch of tyros (Sreesanth, Harbhajan and the likes) needlessly get into verbal spars with the Australian team and continuously go to the media making needless remarks. They would do well to learn from men like Dhoni and Kumble who continue to perform without mouthing off at every given opportunity. Again, I am all for aggressive cricketers who wear their hearts on their sleeve but again their behaviour has frankly been over the top.

Not looking forward to the October tour:

In case you didn’t know, the Australian team is touring Indian this October playing four tests in all. Somehow, the events of the past three months have made me realize that I am just not looking forward to the tour. The cricket is going to be exciting but the whole tour is just going to be full of insults, accusations and counter accusations. Further, I am dead sure that the BCCI will instruct the curators to create complete spinning wickets to ensure that the Indian team wins (news flash: our best performance in Australia was on a wicket that offered swing). I am all for spin and turn but not on the first day!

A sledging ban in the offing:

There is no other sport in the world where teams from such diverse cultures play each other with so much regularity while representing their national teams (you cant say Football cause International Football takes place for about 30 days every calendar year). What continues to amaze me is that neither the Australian team or the Indian team tries and understands the way of life of the other. What is perceived as personal banter in one culture is an insult in the other. Call it mental disintegration or sledging, personal attacks should not be a part of the game- be it on or off the field and this must go. And considering the clout of the BCCI and the subcontinent teams, chances are that it will be banned sooner rather than later.

If the ICC continues to shove things under the carpet, sooner rather than later this whole thing is going to explode just like the Harbhajan controversy a month back. Till then, Cricket Australia and the BCCI will do well to instruct their players to keep their lips sealed.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 1:12 am and is filed under Cricket, India Vs Australia, Sledging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.