Australia Decoded

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.