Sportsmanship !! … India vs Australia, Sydney Test 2008
There is a lot of hype and hoopla over the recently concluded India-Australia 2nd Test Match played at Sydney. The Australian team has been criticized by all, even by their own people (to an extend), for not displaying proper Sportsmanship. The Gentlemen spirit by which the game of cricket is played with.
Despite of all the flak the Australian team is showered with, I feel that there was ‘not much’ wrong they did. If an Umpire is giving decisions which are in their favour, is it there mistake ?? Or they should have shunned the decision themselves, but alas, they couldn’t, because they themselves didn’t know whether the person was out or not, that is why in the first place they referred the call to the Umpire. Is it not so ??
And for argument, even if they knew that the batsman was not out, still they decided to appeal, what wrong is there. Isn’t that every team does that. Even the Indians do that, when they clearly know that the ball was no where near the stumps, they still appeal for an LBW decision. Then why blame the Australians.The only thing that went against the Australians was that the Umpire thought it was out !! But for that, is the Australian team to blame ??
The testmatch was also marred by the controversy of racial abuse. And all the Indians all over the world will argue that the term ‘monkey’ is no where related to a racial abuse. It does not decry of anyone based on their race. But is it not true, that Harbhajan knew of the sentiments with which Andrew Symonds associates the term ‘monkey’ with ? He was made aware of that in the ODI series played in India between the two countries. And despite of these factors, Harbhajan decides to use this particular term on Andrew, is it not a racial slur ?? And I definitely believe, this is the reason by which Mike would have given the ban on the offspiner. For coming from a country and continent, which is almost always, embroiled in controversies related to race, I am very sure, he knows what he was doing. What exactly happened there, none of us will be ever sure of. Either you believe Harbhajan or you believe Andrew. But believing either, will automatically mean the other is lying. And how can you be sure who is and who is not ??
I think it is fair for the Indians to get all crossed with the level and standard of Umpiring. Definitely the decisions were horrendous, and affected the result. Agreed, that it is not easy to stand there and follow ball after ball. Umpiring is a tough job !! Ask me, and yes, I have made blunders. But the level and experience of Stephen Bucknor has surely been let down, by himself. No matter how difficult his job is, with the number of years behind him, it was too shallow a display of his abilities.
Asking of his removal from the third test match is fair and square. But refusing to play further, unless and until the ban on Harbhajan is lifted, is bullying !! Australia, albeit the better team, is not the economic power house, which drives cricket, as India is. And surely the Indians are making best use of it.
Is it in the right sportsmanship that the Indians refuse to play the coming tests ?? Knowing that it will take more than what they have got to salvage the test series. Perth will never be easy for them. And still, I wonder, why the Australians are the ones being accused of non-sportsmanship like behavior.
There is more to it than meets the eye !! And this will again be forgotten in the pages of history. The stronger will win. Like the Austrlians won the match, the Indian (because of their Economic backing) will get the ban lifted off Harbhajan. Its the underdog that will loose. Thats been the norm and will remain so !!
(PS : I could not refrain myself from echoing these thoughts. I was hugely disappointed when I heard that they will not play if the ban on Harbhajan is not lifted, inspite of Steve Bucknor being removed from 3rd Test Match)
so lets talk about the sportsmanship, Cricket has been played with. No one has ever critised the mighty aussies for excessive appealing, although india once has got warning for excessive appealing and if i am able to recollect, someone(captain himself??) got banned also. Certainly not in this series. THIS IS A RACIAL SLUR!!!!. Why the ICC head’ statement ” We can’t have rule for india and another for other teams” didn’t come at that time?? Poor Aussies!!!!… lets talk about the sportsmanship of great corridor bowler Mcgrath. I hope everybody remember the unfortunate moment of cricket when Mcgrath was yelling over Ramnaresh Sarwan and No one did even warn him for his misbehavior. Where was the Mike Procter then?? and Why did Malcom Speed not react??.. THIS IS A RACIAL SLUR!!!!.. Now lets talk about the current series. If “monkey” is a racial slur, then What is “bastard”, the word, brad hogg was pouring over indians so innocently. Why hearing of Brad Hogg will be conducted within series and Harbhjan’s after the series??. The commitment for asking the fielder about the catch in case of any doubt was purely based on honesty. If someone is not sure about the catch, he should not choose to make any comment. If Aussies were not sure, then they should lift their finger up if umpire asks them. They should simply decline. But those bloody Aussies are so fond of making the decisions themselves that they don’t give a damn and certaily spirit of the game is not there for sure. lets play just to win.Not to improve cricket. India also can do it and i hope they should it. They should do any bloody thing to win. Thats the spirit of today’s cricket. Jai Hind!!!!
Hmm !! I would say interesting obervation !!
Do you remember, WorldCup’99. Gibbs took/dropped the catch of Steve Waugh ?? I think he appealed, did he not ?? So he should have been banned, just because he appealed ??
There is a difference between appealing and excessive appealing !! Thats why you would see so many appeals turned down, won’t you ? The Captain of the Indian team was banned for excessive appealing and not for appealing.
I am not sure of the McGrath issue, but there are a lot of incident of sledging. Many are done by Aussies, do agree, but they are not the only ones !! Do you think that every incident results in a warning ?? And besides, if I am to believe, that team was under Steve as the skipper, which everyone now is raving about there sportsmanship. ( You should check some of the Australian Media for this).
“Monkey”, as a racial slur. I think Harbhajan knew of what it implied to Symonds. (Not considering what it means in India, the Communication Gap !!) And he had made clear of that to Harbhajan in the concluded ODI series. And if you think “Bastard” is a racial slur, what do you think of the “MC,BC” so frequently used by the Indian and the Pakistani teams. How should it be classified ??
And you are talking about the Umpire asking the fielder about the catch. Well, he has refferred to the Umpire and if then why is the Umpire asking him back ??? Well that was the blunder done by the Umpire. What do you think, if it was done to any other Team, how would they have reacted ?? Trust me, every player thinks he was right, so did Gibbs in the WorldCup’99
And Lastly, Jai Hind ??? I am also patriotic, but it is not about Patriotism, its about what was right and what was wrong. Its about being fair !!
I still maintain, there was nothing wrong in the way Aussies behaved, but only with the Umpiring. And they should not be blamed for that.