By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney : Cricket has consumed all, even those who otherwise would show scant interest in what was once a gentleman’s game Down Under. Australian Indians and Australians at large are peeved at and embarrassed by the cricket story unfolding in one of the greatest sporting nations of the world.
“The win at all costs” attitude has muffled the spirit of the game. Prabhat Sinha, immediate past president of the United Indian Associations (UIA), told IANS: “Australia is a great sporting nation and the recent behaviour of (Ricky) Ponting’s cricket team has undoubtedly damaged Australia’s international reputation. Australian Indians and Australians at large are quite concerned about recent unseemly behaviour and abusive language used by some team members.”
“Blighted by racism, wrong umpiring decisions, poor sportsmanship, arrogant and amateurish leadership by Australian cricket captain Ponting, the tour will continue thanks to sensible and timely intervention by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and International Cricket Council (ICC).”
“Ponting’s pontification does not augur well for the reputation of Australia as a great sporting nation. I would absolutely agree with Sydney Morning Herald columnist and former cricketer Peter Roebuck that Ponting should be sacked as Australia’s captain for bringing a bad name to a traditional, friendly game of cricket.”
While Australia have taken a 2-0 lead in the four-Test series and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ponting and his team had come under fierce criticism for bad behaviour during the second Test against India in Sydney a week ago.
The match was also marred by poor umpiring from Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor and charges of racism on Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, following which the bowler was suspended from three Tests.
After a strong protest from the Indian cricket board, the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to remove Bucknor from the remainder of the series and also upheld the ban on Harbhajan till a fresh hearing was conducted.
The third Test starts Wednesday in Perth.
A Sydney-based IT specialist, Anil Verma says, “Cricket seems to have gone more interesting outside the field now. But it is sad. Change is the call of the day. Cricket has gone through major evolution from Test match to Twenty20.
“It should now evolve in the area of umpiring. Technology should be used for accurate assessment and judgement, leaving the umpires only to officiate the game will minimise the controversies currently plaguing the game. Containing the empires of umpires, their status may evolve from referee to referrer.
“There should also be a controversy index for a match and if a match goes beyond a certain measure, the record books should contain a star (or scar) for posterity. Otherwise all the unfairness in winning will get lost in memories, and a team will continue to rejoice their winning streak in record books as if nothing happened. It will also curb the temptation to win at any cost.”
All the action on and off the field has, however, not affected the filming of “Victory”, a film on cricket.
The Australian Indian producer of the film, Anupam Sharma, says, “The cricket controversy has generated a lot of interest in the film and the crew is amused at the questions the film crew and cricketers are being asked about the controversy which has nothing to do with the film, crew, or the cricketers involved.”
Hemchandra Rao, who was at the Sydney Cricket Ground for all the five days, says, “The first three days were excellent and engrossing cricket and then aggression on the field beyond sportsman spirit was unpleasant to watch. In all walks of life, the greatest winners are humble. Ishant Sharma, who should have got the wicket of Symmonds but for the umpire, by congratulating Symmonds has shown the Indian behaviour pattern in the worst times.
“The captains have to become leaders than just tacticians to win matches. Only then, the sports can win. The real people, who paid a lot of money to see the match enjoyed and one can hear and read the good Australians express their opinions abundantly in the last week,” adds Rao.
Shailja Chaturvedi of the Hindi Samaj says, “It shows huge insecurity underlying the over inflated pompous self-image of the Australian team.”