Blogs Mums the word;Sreesanth
October 15th, 2007 by varinmuldiyarA lot has been said and written about Sreesanth’s behaviour on the field. Sadly, it has nothing to do with cricket. All people are talking about is his aggressive behaviour and verbal spat with Andrew Symonds. According to me that’s not an issue at all. That is a part and parcel of the game. And I don’t think that the ‘line’ has been crossed as yet. Andrew symonds’ issue of racial treatment by the crowd needs to be taken seriously as their is no space for racism in the game. Also, one should not forget the racial treatment meted out to Muttiah Muralitharan by Australian crowd in Australia. I wonder what Australian board did about it then. Nevertheless, one condemns such behaviour by the crowd.
Now coming back to the issue of aggression on the field; I still remember the game when Sreenath bowled a bouncer to Ricky Ponting that struck him right on the grill of his helmet. Sreenath, the gentleman that he was, apologized to him, and Ponting instead showed his anger by gesturing him to go back to his run up. That left a lasting impression on me as I had never seen a fast bowler ever apologizing to a batsman after bowling a bouncer and getting humiliated in return. And his partner Venkatesh Prasad was equally meek in his behaviour. Not to say that they were not good bowlers. It’s just that they didn’t have the attitude of a fast bowler. So, it’s quite refreshing to see a young aggressive fast bowler like Sreesanth come up the ranks. And I don’t have a problem with his antics on the field. In fact we all like it. It adds a little spice to the game. I think the whole issue has been blown over the top. We all know what Australians are capable of when it comes to sledging. Mcgrath is a prime example of someone who sledged a lot and got away with it. No one said a word about it. And when they are getting a taste of their own medicine, they have a problem with it. My only problem is that India is not backing its new found aggression with performance on the field. India has lost badly to Australia in most of the matches which doesn’t leave them with much to say on the field. So all the aggression exhibited by the players loses its sting and looks stupid at times. India will really have to pull up their socks before the final one day at Mumbai to salvage any pride. Otherwise they will be left with no option, but to keep mum.
October 15th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I agree with just about everything you have written varinmuldiyar, except you saying that “we are losing badly to Australia”. May be it is a combination of little bit of wishful thinking and optimism, but India as a team is slowly closing the gap between itself and Australia. The matches are getting much closer than they used to be. With a little bit of focus, we would have won the 6th ODI and put pushed for a leveled series.
Australia still is the team to beat, but if we continue to play this type cricket and promote good players objectively, then we will achieve success more often than not.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:56 am
India has lost last four of five matches played against Australia in recent future cup. And one only has to look at the stats to find out the margin of defeat.
2nd ODI v India at Kochi - Oct 2, 2007
Australia won by 84 runs. Australia 306/6 (50 ov); India 222 (47.3 ov)
3rd ODI v India at Hyderabad (Decc) - Oct 5, 2007
Australia won by 47 runs. Australia 290/7 (50 ov); India 243 (47.4 ov)
5th ODI v India at Vadodara - Oct 11, 2007
Australia won by 9 wickets (with 145 balls remaining). India 148 (39.4 ov); Australia 149/1 (25.5 ov)
6th ODI v India at Nagpur - Oct 14, 2007
Australia won by 18 runs. Australia 317/8 (50 ov); India 299/7 (50 ov)
So out of four defeats only two have been close matches. And If margin of 84 runs and losing match by 9 wickets are not big enough for anyone to say that “India has lost badly,” than I really wonder what “lost badly” means to you.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:26 am
yes, but only 2 of them were with big margins, the other 2 were close. Let’s see what happens in the last ODI…
October 18th, 2007 at 2:58 am
hmm… I cannot let go of an article on sreesanth without commenting! I agree with most of the thoughts of varinmuldiyar. Just one thing… it is true that India has not been able to back up all the aggression with wins, but that does not mean that we tone down the aggression. Losing a match, even badly, should not mean that the Indians should meekly listen to every slander offered to them by the Aussies. If the performance is not matching the aggression, so what? I don’t think both are related. Aggression will only help the performance, I think.
As Jay (or was it Veeru?) says in Sholay… tum ek maaro, hum chaar maarenge! Go India!
October 18th, 2007 at 3:03 am
As far as treatment meted out to Symonds by the crowd is concerned, I don’t think there was anything racial in it. It was nothing to do with his skin colour or race. The crowd was just teasing him by making money chants. It is really funny how the Aussies cant handle such things. As long as they speak about people’s wives and mothers in a derogatory way, everything is all right in the world. The moment someone shows them the way to the dressing room or teases them about their looks, they have a problem and term it as ‘racial’. Maybe they should think… the problem they have with the Indians’ behaviour, same problem other team can have with their references to wives and mothers.
They should either grow up or shut up.