All is fair in love and war they say. If not war, this poor display of sportsmanship by the Australians can probably be attributed to love…love for the record of highest consecutive wins!
This isn’t the kind of Cricket expected from the world’s best team and definitely not the kind of Cricket we are used to watching in the Border-Gavaskar series, which has given the world some of the most hard-fought Test matches of highest quality in recent times.
That said I’m not sure to what extent the Australian players need to be blamed. Most of the players in world Cricket do appeal wrongly in the heat of the situation. And I guess the Australians were more excited this time around as they were on their way to equal the previous record of 16 consecutive wins.
And very few players in world Cricket when they have nicked the ball walk without waiting for umpire’s decision. Even some of our most senior players don’t do so.
So I don’t think the Australians can entirely be blamed for it…although I do agree they didn’t play with the right spirit and they got away with it quite easily.
By all means it is the umpires' responsibility to make sure that they don’t give in to the emotions of the players and make sure the decisions given are fair. But in this case, the decisions were anything but fair, most of them biased in favor of Australia.
Seems they were trying to rule out any possibility of an Indian win or even a draw…and looked to make sure Australia wins.
They showed height of indifference when Clark/Pointing was consulted on whether the catch was taken rather than referring it to the third umpire… Of course, the limits were already crossed when even the third umpire had erred the first day!
I think India should play the remaining matches only if the offending umpires are fired for the rest of the series. And they should present a strong case in front of the ICC to declare the match unofficial.
On the other hand, it was really heartening to see India come back so strongly and dominate the match to a good extent after such a bad performance in the first test.
The class of Laxman, the fluency of Ganguly, the maturity of Sachin and the genius of Anil Kumble… it was all so good to watch.
Indians thoroughly deserved to win this one… and by no standard did they deserve to lose!
It was extremely disappointing to see them lose… and very sad to see Kumble walk back helplessly in the end after having put in such a gallant performance with the bat.
Overall, Indians definitely showed great character. The easiest thing for them would have been to walk out of the match with all those decisions going against them. But they ignored all that and still showed a spirited display and almost saved the match…
Australians on the other hand showed poor cricketing spirit overall, and by filing a case against Harbhajan, they have proved to be poor hosts as well.
Sydney test will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, and Indian team I’m sure will be remembered as the one having played with the true spirit!
8 comments:
true! and to see sachin himself defending bhajji speaks volumes of truth on the side of india. and i couldn't see that unhappy face of anil kumble. his face clearly suggested that he was completely disappointed not by the loss but by the way they had to lose the match. the way the australians played the game leaves a huge space to suspect connivance by the australian players and the umpires.
Indians should protest against the Australian Team sponsor 3(3G) which has an office in Mumbai in Mindspace, Malad. 3G should be aske to stop further sponsorship of the cheaters.
ICC always praises Ponting for his sportsmanship which he seldom shows. And insults Sachin by placing cases against him of ball Tampering when he shows sportsmanship every where.
This is the attitude of the ICC towards all Indians infact towards all subcontinent players.
ICC needs Indians to play becoz we provide them revenue. With all these things happening against Indians we can make ICC to beg by just avoiding to play. Just our Board has to take a hard stand, they will be on their knees.
Will our BCCI do ? God Only Knows ...
Hey Sandeep, nice post...
but u havent said anything abt Bhajji's tryst with controversy... Bhajji as a Racist... ! Come on...
I think the tour shud go ahead only if Bhajji is cleared of the charges against him and Bucknor & Benson are fired...!
Pa ji,
Nice catch :)
Bhajji's ban was ridiculous to say the least... Without evidence, there was no way they could do that to him.
Now that he is allowed to play in the remaining matches and India is more likely to continue with the tour, they should make the Aussies repent for their misbehavior... They should respond in the way Yuvraj had responded to England in T20 world cup after an argument with Flintoff!
yeah... the hurt tiger shud kill the kangaroos now.... but i am really worried how they r gonna do that in terms of ability....
moreover, Perth pitch is sure to make indians dance to the music of the likes of Lee.... adding to that the failures of Wasim and Yuvi and Dhoni... and to say the least, Bhajji may not play the Perth test.. not because of the ban but because the pitch is going to be helpful for fast bowling and not much conducive to spin....
Yeah, that's gonna be a tough one... considering even the Aussies will not be any less aggressive...
Jaffer I think deserves another chance... just coz he is such a good batsman... and also coz he got unlucky in the second innings...
They should probably bring in Karthik instead of Dhoni... Dhoni I dont think makes a good test batsman although his attitude can never be questioned. But just that he doesn't have the technique of a test batsman.
Bringing in Karthik will also help Dravid and Laxman to go back to their customary positions and Yuvraj can also be in the team... I think Yuvi is just one good innings away from making a difference in the series... he is a MUST if we are serious about beating the Aussies... Of course, only as long as Ms. Pudukone stays out of his mind :)
well said, the last line.... !
watching dhoni play in the past 2 matches... i think u r right abt his technique.... he's a hero in subcontinent wickets... but in aus.. i am not sure....
so the combo u suggested seems a good one... but i dont know whether kumble and team wud drop ODI captian out of the test team...!
regarding attitudes... yuvi's leave much to be desired... while dhoni has lots of it...
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