Sunday, January 13, 2008

A Cricketer and a Gentleman

The big fight between the Australian and Indian cricket teams may be drawing to a close with Ricky Ponting actually being surprised by the number of people unhappy with their ugly tactics - even back home!. Looks like the Aussies have received a lot of bad press about their dirty behaviour from all over the world!. I kinda think its time that they got some too. I mean, all these years I never liked the Aussies only cause of the way they played their game. McGrath was one of my most hated players cause of his tendency to shoot off his mouth after every delivery. And the point of the whole thing is that no one ever brought a complaint against them about sledging and the ICC also has done nothing about it. But in the middle of this mud-slinging test series, I think one man has earned my respect - Anil Kumble. In his article in the "Hindustan Times", he tells of how he has decided to call off an agreement he had made with Ricky Ponting. In this agreement, they had decided that whatever the situation, the fielder concerned would be completely straight on what happened. Since Michael Clarke was so utterly defiant that he had taken a clean catch and decided to stay on even after he had given a clean catch to the slips, Kumble had decided to break the agreement. In this particular day and age when being courageous and true to your word is actually frowned upon, I really appreciate what Kumble has done. And moving onto the "alleged" racist slur that Harbhajan had used on Symonds, Kumble says - "When I offered to apologise as Bhajji's skipper, it was only to smooth things over. At no stage did I admit that he had made a racist remark. In fact, I said he had not". The following lines are beautiful - "Unfortunately, these days, when someone apologises, it is seen as either a sign of weakness or an admission of guilt. I am neither unnerved nor are we guilty. In the larger interests of the game, if an apology could help build bridges and smooth things over, then it is better made then left unsaid because of egos".

Well, I really thought this guy had to be put to pasture, but I respect him now. In my book, he can retire anytime in high esteem!

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