Australia and World Champions?????? A BIG JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Australia and World Champions?????? A BIG JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 6th 2008....this day will go down as one of the black days in international Cricket...and for all sorts of reasons. I must confess that being an ardent cricket fan, and that too being a great supporter of Australian brand of cricket(which comes next only to Team India for me as a supporter by heart), this was one of the days where i felt extremely ashamed of myself for admiring their cricket. Yes, they are world champions...but for me real the world champions were the WestIndian team in the late 70's and the Aussie teams in late 80's. They were the real champions in all rights.I have extreme and high regard for Steven Waugh as a Cricketer and as a person. For he not only took Cricket to a different level, but he set standards for the game to move on in complete spirit. But truth of the matter is, its been horrendous to watch this Australian team behave on and off the field.

Though having not seen them play, i have heard and seen people saying that the West Indian teams of 80's were gentlemen on and off the field, irrespective of the fierceness and competition of the game. And that still reflects in the way some of their greats like Michael Holding, Sir Viv Richards, Ian Bishop, Walsh and Ambrose speak to the media on cricket and their life. But its not the same when one sees people like Slater,Ian Chappell,Taylor speak on the game. It was absolutely astonishing to see Michael Slater speak the other day on Star Cricket about spirit of the game. Ha ha....go back to Mumbai,March 1st 2001...and you will know what kind of a sportsman Slater is!!!!!!Again one and only Mr. Steve Waugh stands out and earns respect as a true gentleman.

This is not just a one off test match to say....Since the new millenium began in 2000, Its been the face of Australian cricket. Steve Waugh called it mental disintegration and Sourav Ganguly showed them what it tastes when you have it yourself. Yes... a one off banter is fine, as long as its not personal...that's what cricketers also opine. The Aussies have had long tryst with these things like the Gavaskar walk off at MCG,Hughes-Miandad incident and many more to say. But hang on.....it does not mean that if a hen lays golden eggs,you open it up and find for many....This has crossed a limit in the last 15 years.

People like Mutthiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya have experienced it.Ramnaresh Sarwan is another guy who will tell you this. Its happened and has been happening for years and none cared. If Muralitharan is called a "cheater" and "chucker"in Australia(their Prime minister leading the way), then what do we have to say of Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting?? Well...CHEATER is an understatement to describe them. Glenn McGrath called Jayasuriya a "Black Monkey".... where the hell was the ICC then??? Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist speak of human element errors in the game. For god sake .... its these who are taking advantage of it for their greedy cause.

Mr. Adam Gilchrist set himself high standards of being a "walker".Where did his sportsmanship spirit go, when he appealed for a catch behind off Dravid, inspite off Daylight seperating bat and ball???? And now Give us all a break from your philosophies Mr.Ponting...To hell with your integrity.....TWO HOOTS to your false policies...You take a bump catch and claim its bumped!!!! Just to set false standards. When you nick one off your bat, don't you think its your moral right to walk, if you think you are unquestionable in your integrity??? Who gave you the authority to make decisions on contentious catches??? Definitely not the ICC!!!

And of all, here we have Michael Clarke, the innocent looking poster boy, who has smashed the cover off the Kookaburra to Dravid's safe hands at slips off Kumble, and then waits for the umpire to tell him to leave!!!Then he claims a catch which he was never in control of and comes out telling he was 100% sure of having taken it.Further more he goes on to say that umpires have been consistent throughout the test match and that few decisions luckily went their way!!!! MY FOOT....JUST SHUT UP!!!! You need to go back to school and do your moral science classes PUPPY....and perfectly yes...you are "The Worthy Successor" to Ricky Ponting..to carry forward the legacy of Cheating,False Allegations and hopelessly missing sportsmanship spirit.

Steve Waugh could be regretting on this kind of behaviour of the aussies, but he is not at fault.Nor does he feel guilty, for he believed in honesty and truthfulness as a professional cricketer.Just the statement he gave about Sourav Ganguly's comeback to International Cricket, inspite of all the animosity they had in 2001,shows this.I wonder whether any Aussie cricket captain might have done this or whether ever will!!!

Well...about the umpires, i pity them for all the pressures they undergo.Its the players,the Australian Cricket team who make them take such wrong decisions and it has nothing to do with human elements alone.

There have been several such incidents in the past that has shown the Australian team in poor light,with false accusations and unforgiving behaviours on the field.The way they celebrate dismissals with all kinds of Abusive language they know (often decorated with "the four lettered remark")shows their character. Many teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka , West Indies have experienced this apart from India ...but in vain.On the other hand the Aussies have accused players and umpires from these nations of bad sportsmanship. Symonds said that he believed India had gone overboard with the T20 World cup celebrations. Give us a break Symonds...who asked you to comment on the celebration??? We do it our own way and in a respectful manner..not the aussie way with late night bashes and what not!!!!( Shane Warne will know this).If you are hurt at being defeated by us, its not our problem. We take defeats gamely...its your insane mind which is your problem,Symonds.

Arjuna Ranatunga had cautioned the world as early as 1994 about this Australian bias in international cricket.But even after 14 years, things are the same and with magnified proportion.ICC has done nothing about it, though they claim that things are well under control.When it came to umpiring controversies, Malcolm Speed, the CEO of ICC went on saying that Technology has pressurised umpires. He is simply making a joke of himself , as it is evident that its the false appealing that is the major cause. Aussies rank no.1 in this definitely!!!

The Racist Charge on Harbhajan Singh in order to unsettle the confidence of a player who has been rattling the Aussie captain is expected of the Aussies.Whenever the aussies sense threat from an opponent, they take it outside the field and try to unsettle them.Shoaib Akhtar, Muralitharan, now Harbhajan.......
Now that it has happened consistently over a length of 5 days, its nothing but logical for the BCCI to take the initiative.Another boycott in the lines of the Centurion test match in 2001 will do no harm to the cricketing world, but rather will put things into right perspective, towards making things clearer and fair.
But will the BCCI take this step forward??

Or will it sit on the fence,so as to avoid any kind of financial losses that could result due to that??

An Australian tour to India is due in October 2008 and hence BCCI will be watchful before taking this step. Also is the ICC president's post in line to Sharad Pawar, backed by the
English and Wales Cricket Board(ECB).

Will the BCCI dare to let that go off, sensing ECB's backoff in support
to Australia, if the tour is boycotted??

Or will the BCCI realise finally that it is a matter of India's pride being questioned with racist charges on a sportsperson???

Only Time will tell......!!!!