Over the past couple of years, we have had several on-field incidents between cricket players from India and Australia. There is one point that we need to carefully notice and that is the fact that invariably it has been the Indian players who have been fined and banned. Rarely have the Australian players lost any percentage of their match fee or been banned from playing in any matches. Be it Harbhajan being banned in Monkey-gate, or be it Gambhir being banned for elbowing Shane Watson, or be it Zaheer Khan being fined for taunting Hayden after his dismissal in the second test of the ongoing test series between the two nations, its always been our very own Indian players at the receiving end.
Is there something we Indians need to learn from the Aussies? I guess we need to learn one very important thing and that is "HOW NOT TO GET CAUGHT?" The Australians have mastered this art all too well. It was Shane Watson who started to flare Gambhir up, with Simon Katich also joining in. It was a sensational reply from Gambhir with a hammering pull shot off Watson's bowling on his way to scoring a dazzling double century. But on his way to the landmark, he also left a blackmark in the form of the elbowing incident.
Mike Hussey has accused Gambhir of being on the lookout for opportunities to intimidate players from the opposition. Now what he does not realise, or probably does not want to mention is that Gambhir has been made to think like that because of comments from the opposition. He is still a young player and the young blood in his veins seem to be flaring him up. Rarely do we notice the experience lads like Dravid, Ganguly or Sachin react in such a manner. They have been there, done that, and know very well how to tackle the situation.
The Australians have somehow become experts at sledging their opponents and provoking them into sayiong and doing things that warrant legal action, while they get let off with only a word from the umpires on the field. When the players are questioned about their integrity, they lack the patience and composure to answer the questions in a dignified manner- Ponting of course. They call the opposing captain's complaints unwarranted, even if a player from their team spits at a player from the opposition- Lara's complaint about Mcgrath spitting on Griffith.
If I am not mistaken I think Ponting made a comment when Ishant Sharma was dismissed as the nightwatchman in the second innings of the third test. It sounds funny does it not?! Of all the people to sledge after dismissing, it has to be Ishant Sharma, the tailender. I guess Ishant will be sensible enough to take that as a compliment to his batting skills. I think the Indian players need to learn the art of not getting caught for any aggression from the Aussies, or give up any aggression and stay calm like the seniors in the team, or do it the best way- let the bat and the ball do the talking.
An interesting final test on the cards, lets hope we bring home the Border-Gavaskar from Oz land. Its been wuite a while since we had it here.
Is there something we Indians need to learn from the Aussies? I guess we need to learn one very important thing and that is "HOW NOT TO GET CAUGHT?" The Australians have mastered this art all too well. It was Shane Watson who started to flare Gambhir up, with Simon Katich also joining in. It was a sensational reply from Gambhir with a hammering pull shot off Watson's bowling on his way to scoring a dazzling double century. But on his way to the landmark, he also left a blackmark in the form of the elbowing incident.
Mike Hussey has accused Gambhir of being on the lookout for opportunities to intimidate players from the opposition. Now what he does not realise, or probably does not want to mention is that Gambhir has been made to think like that because of comments from the opposition. He is still a young player and the young blood in his veins seem to be flaring him up. Rarely do we notice the experience lads like Dravid, Ganguly or Sachin react in such a manner. They have been there, done that, and know very well how to tackle the situation.
The Australians have somehow become experts at sledging their opponents and provoking them into sayiong and doing things that warrant legal action, while they get let off with only a word from the umpires on the field. When the players are questioned about their integrity, they lack the patience and composure to answer the questions in a dignified manner- Ponting of course. They call the opposing captain's complaints unwarranted, even if a player from their team spits at a player from the opposition- Lara's complaint about Mcgrath spitting on Griffith.
If I am not mistaken I think Ponting made a comment when Ishant Sharma was dismissed as the nightwatchman in the second innings of the third test. It sounds funny does it not?! Of all the people to sledge after dismissing, it has to be Ishant Sharma, the tailender. I guess Ishant will be sensible enough to take that as a compliment to his batting skills. I think the Indian players need to learn the art of not getting caught for any aggression from the Aussies, or give up any aggression and stay calm like the seniors in the team, or do it the best way- let the bat and the ball do the talking.
An interesting final test on the cards, lets hope we bring home the Border-Gavaskar from Oz land. Its been wuite a while since we had it here.
