That's Unsporty Mate!

The recent India - Australia test series was very well contested. Except for the first match at MCG which was a one-sided affair and the last couple of days at Adelaide it was a fantastic series - certainly one of the most hotly contested series in the recent past, after the Ashes 2005 may be.


Sadly however, the series will be remembered more for the off field controversies than the contest on the field. Bad umpiring decisions, protests, racial comments, sledging, unsportsmanlike behavior on the field was all on display. The result - an umpire sent packing back to his home, a match referee being castigated in public, a captain accusing the other team of unfair play and finally two teams filing cases against each other's players.


A pack of wild dogs?
Is this cricket? Or is this War? Certainly the latter as is promoted by the broadcaster itself. Its a "cricketing war" between two nations. One a reigning champion that prides itself on playing "aggressive" cricket and other - a challenger that managed to get under the skins of the victors - or at least matching them in their cricketing skills.

Everything that goes up must come down and so it was for the Aussies. They have played fantastic cricket over the years and deserve to be World Champions. But when paid back in their own coin they break - the invincibles mind you - just like any other team! A tree laden with fruits always comes down but the Aussies have turned egoistic bumblers today - lashing out at every body who comes in their way and all this in the name of "aggressive cricket".



That it all started with Harbhajan's congratulatory recognition to a fine delivery by Brett Lee in the form of a pat on the backside is hardly surprising. The mental makeup of the Australian team is revealed by the statement made by Mr. Andrew Symonds during the hearing. In reply to being asked what was his objection to the "pat on the back", he said, "Did I have an objection to it – my objection was that a test match is no place to be friendly with an opposition player, is my objection.”

And as Hon. Justice John Hansen noted, "If that is his view I hope it is not one shared by all international cricketers. It would be a sad day for cricket if it is."


The Big Bullies?
The Australians have been hypocrites, for them everything is so - selective honesty, selective goodwill,selective judgment, selective sledging and then - out they come like whingers. Ok let me start, first Recall the gentlemanly "agreement" between the two sides regarding the catching - and what was Ponting doing claiming off an obviously grounded catch?

Secondly over the years Australians have claimed that their "sporty" attitude ensures that what ever happens on the field stays on the field. (Really?) And who went to the referee complaining like school kids. Couldn't it have been settled between two captains? And as Tony Greig said on , "If you want to nail Harbhajan....sit him down (with the captains) and nail him". Who brought the lawyers into it?

Thirdly, let's see the transcript of the stump microphone during the Sydney Test:

Hayden approaches Harbhajan.
Hayden: "That's the last time."
Harbhajan (apologetically): "No listen he started it."
Hayden (putting his hands up): "Doesn't matter mate, it's racial vilification mate. It's a shit word and you know it."

So you go on abusing someone, expletives after expletives and when the person snaps - you report him! Very well done - that's what "mental disintegration" is! So far so good - but once in a while you find somebody who refuses to be cowed like a Ranatunga or a Harbhajan who don't hold back anything - you go back whinging to the referee. That's very un-sporty mate!


Indian side
Indians are no holy cows themselves. Indian crowds behaved badly when Australians last toured. Symonds did well in the 4-2 series win for kangaroos and was subjected to racial taunts throughout the series culminating in Mumbai - where there were massive rallies in the crowd waving offensive banners and shouting "Symonds is a monkey" and "Aussies suck" with middle finger in full display et al.


These incidents were the root cause for what has happened now. Its time we put our house in order. Sections of crowd displaying such behaviour should be identified and banned from watching any future matches. Be it Mumbai or Sydney crowd trouble has to be handled in a proper manner.


Cricket is the biggest
There is no place for personal banters or racial taunts in cricket or any sport. A little bit of friendly banter is good and keeps the spectators hooked but once in a while it gets ugly and things go out of hand.

One of the reasons behind this fiasco was the ineffective conduct of the two umpires in the middle. Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson did not earn too much respect from the two sides by virtue of their decisions in order to command over them. They are the ones out in the middle and can judge much better than anybody else sitting in the commentary box or the drawing room. In effect, under such cases umpires need to step up and see that the matters do not go out of hand.

The game of cricket is the biggest of all individual egos and so it must stay.