As
an ardent Indian cricket fan, who has been privileged to play at school, college,
university & corporate level, I feel i'm entitled to give my opinion to the
recently concluded series b/w India/ Australia. Although India managed to come
back strong having been bundled out for a paltry 36 in the first test, they
bounced back & won the series, thus retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy,
that's not what this is all about. This is about the bullying of the Aussies,
not playing in the spirit of the game & the umpires turning a blind eye to
the consistent short-pitched bowling, to the extent that, more than half of the
Indian team now have the series souvenirs on their bodies.
Let’s
take a step back into the history, the upbringing of these 2 cricket frenzy
nations. Australia like India was colonized by the British & hence Cricket
happens to be an integral part of the history of both nations. However,
one of the main points of difference is the known version of "Down
Under" abbreviation for Oz. Down Under for some means down & far below
the equator in the southern hemisphere. However the known version for this
has been, the British people sending criminals & convicted persons
"down under" to server punishments, how much of this is of any truth
is still not known to me. But that brings an interesting point to the attitude
& behavior of the Aussies. Add to that the vast & varied
landscape, mostly arid in the center & you have the right mixture to
make the people, we know as "ruff & tough". Australia has been
graced with abundant nature & it’s the only continent that's also an
island , how about that? India on the other hand, has been surrounded by
its neighbors, with whom it has had a bittersweet relationship in the past
& it was consistently looted by the Abdalis (Ahmed Shah Abdali),
Ghouri's (Mohammed Ghouri) & the Moghuls & then it reeled under
the British rule for 150 years. Traditionally, India has always been an
oppressed entity, not that there were no fightback at all, but
it has never been the first one to attack someone, unless provoked. This
difference in nature & culture forms the basis of character that we see in
our society today, more so in sportsmen, whom we idolize.
Now,
coming back to cricket, Australia is known to play hard-nosed cricket from the
time I have followed this game & earlier as well. The infamous
"Body Line series", master minded by Douglas Jardine & impeccably
executed by Harold Larwood ( to curb Sir Don's scoring spree) stands a
testimony in the cricketing world. Greg Chappel & his partner in crime, his
younger brother, Trevor Chappel are both still trying to exorcise that "Underarm bowling"
incident ghost till this date. Greg Chappel has written an open letter to
Tim Paine recently, offering his condolences for losing the Gabba fortress
& has mentioned the above underarm incident & its ill-effects still at
play to this day. It is noteworthy to mention the fact that, Greg
(one of the shrewdest captains in Aus, if not the shrewdest one) calls it a
"Brain fade"- an incident whose effects he did not foresee at
that time. I clearly recollect Ricky Ponting saying "F%$^ OFF" to a
concerned Javagal Srinath, after the latter bounced him with a short ball in
2003 series, if i'm not wrong. Micheal Slater sledging Rahul Dravid after
claiming a catch & adjudging him Out, when there were doubts of the
catch itself & arguing with umpire Venkat Raghavan, who was an
distinguished Indian player of his time & the umpire that time. Who
can forget the "Sydney fiasco" & the "monkey-gate" of
2008 series in Aus."Sandpaper" controversy had almost finished
careers of Steve Smith & his deputy David Warner. Head coach Darren Lehmann
& proven guilty Bancroft are now nowhere seen in the cricket, at-least not
known to me, as of this writing & rightly so. All the above incidents,
have a common thread & its anyone to guess, yes it is "Cricket
Australia". So what is it that drives Australia & its cricketers to
think beyond the confines of law, rules & to win at all costs? Is winning
at all costs so deeply rooted in Aussie blood that they stoop down to such
shameful means, time & again & still afford to label themselves as
"Champions"? Is it difficult to comprehend that youngsters look up
to these players as their idols & Australia is setting a wrong example
for their youth to follow?
It
is not that Australia has not contributed to cricket or that we now start to
hate them. In fact, "Pajama Cricket" aka white ball cricket, World
Series Cricket, Stump vision , Roving Eye, Flashing Stump Bails, etc were all
first conceptualized & implemented in Australia & that revolutionized
Cricket big time. Channel Nine's Richie Benaud & Bill Lawry were the best
commentators that have graced this game. Unbiased, truthful, transparent &
to the point with bare minimum words spoken were the hallmarks of my
personal favorite, Richie Benaud.
It
is for these reasons that, i still regard the West Indies team of
70's-80's to be the best contender for the "Champions" tag. They
owned it & earned it overtime but never boasted of it. Their line up
consisted of lean, mean fast bowlers notably, (Wes) Hall, (Charlie) Griffith, (Andy) Roberts, (Micheal) Holding, (Colin) Croft and (Joel) Garner & later
(Courtney) Walsh & (Curtly) Ambose. They were the most dangerous, lethal
& meanest of all generations know in the cricketing history but i never
ever, recollect any incident of even anyone of them uterring a single word to
any batsmen. They hunted in pairs like wolves & were relentless, constantly
asking you questions out that off stump. They liked to welcome the new batsmen
with their famed "the perfume delivery" but were never ever abusive
in their language, not one of them then. There used to be an occasional
banter, yes very much like " Where did you learn your cricket maan,
at Edgbaston?" or the famous one shared by Sunny himself wherein he
came 1-down or 2-down for Zero instead of opening the batting & Sir Viv
quipped from slips, "Hi maan, no matter where you bat, the score is still
Zero!!".
It’s is high time we take notice & condemn this boorish, bullish behavior from the Aussies in the name of "mental disintegration" or "pressure tactics" or whatever the hell they call it, but it needs to stop big time now. Josh Hazelwood repeatedly bounced Pujara & then abused him on top of it, after being hit on his helmet, the on field & officiating umpires alike were all deaf & blind to all this, where they were in total authority to reprimand Hazelwood, per laws of the game. The entire world heard what was said to Ashwin by Tim Paine & still there is no punishment rendered to the accused. This callous attitude of Aussies should not be tolerated nor neglected. It is important to point then out that they do not own this game & no one is bigger than the sport itself! I would like the BCCI to take this further to ICC & possibly lodge a complaint. In the end this instigation worked against the Aussies as the Indians stood their ground firm, took blows , weathered abuses & took us across the line to breach the impregnable Gabba finally, after 1988. There is a very thin line b/w banter & abuse & the moment that line is crossed, it should be deemed as a crime/ punishment. Play hard, play fair & then may the best team win, should be the lesson to learn hereafter. I do hope i have been able to do justice to bring out some glaring facts about the Aussie behavior with my limited but true knowledge of the facts, but it is now up-to the individual to follow it as a norm, else we will still see abuses hurled, bones broken , cheating done, but yet, one team will end up standing firm, on their ground amongst all this & will defeat the home team, lock stock & barrel, right in their own backyard !!!
This series would go down in the annals of cricket as to how "Indian boys" conquered the "big mouth Aussie punks"!
P.S
- The views/ opinions expressed here are entirely mine & i would leave it
to my readers/ followers to deny, refute or rubbish it, as they deem fit.
-Truly yours,
Yogesh
J.
