The Ugly Aussie

The Indian cricket team's tour of Australia has been a pot of gold for the media. There has been plenty of action both on and off the field. Sachin Tendulkar resumed his role as the master blaster after half a decade of playing a mere grafter. A ungainly unkempt beanpole teenager Ishant Sharma captured the imagination of a billion people; offering hope to a nation used to being blasted away by Pakistani pacers. VVS Laxman was very very special. In Anil Kumble, the team found a proud uncompromising leader. Brett Lee finally filled the big boots of Glenn Mcgrath; his scintillating battles with Sachin was cricket at its best. Adam Gilchrist, the man who redefined the definition of a wicket keeper announced his retirement. There was an equal share of events just not cricket; unfortunately this tour will be remembered for non cricketing resaons: huge umpiring blunders, war like bad blood between the two teams, threats of tour cancellation, allegations of racism and hypocrisy The media has gleefully lapped up every thing and stoked lightening sparks into towering infernos. The result has been edge of the seat entertainment, better than any well made bollywood thriller.

Right since the late 90s, the Indian and Australian teams have shared memorable battles which have become a part of cricketing folklore. The close rivalry can be gauged by the 10-8 win loss ratio in favour of Australia. It all started with Sachin's ruthless dismantling of the wizard of Oz, the greatest leg spinner ever, Shane Warne. However the two shared a great mutual respect which added positive spice to the rivalry. Then came Laxman's Very Very Special knock along with Rahul Dravid in 2001 which halted the Australian Juggernaut after 16 wins. The Kolkata test is arguably the best test match played in the history of cricket. In 2004, the Indians did the impossible. They actually drew a test series in Australia 1-1. These battles were true cricketing epics led by gladiators on both sides.

Things started to change for the worse through ugly on and off field battles with the influx of youth in the Indian side and the beginning of a cocky Ricky Ponting era in Australian cricket. The brash new kids in the Indian team were typical of India's post liberalisation generation. They are confident, aggressive, strong in their belief that the the world is their cocoon and they give as good as they get. The Harbhajans, Sreesanths, Uthappas and ODI skipper Dhoni are all part of this overtly aggressive generation. Ricky Ponting built an arrogant Australian team that humiliated and ripped apart all opposition. They played to win at all costs; the hallowed turfs were nothing but warfields. They least expected to see a reflection of their own cockyness in the young Indian players; totally contrary to thier picture of Indians as meek and pacific. They accused the Indians of faking aggression and were confident of running rough shod over the Indians in Australia.

The first indication of bad blood between the two teams came after the T20 world cup semifinal in South Africa which the Indians won. Post match imagery was all about rejoicing Indians and sulking Aussies. It didn't help that the Aussies were scheduled to tour India soon after even before the wounds could heal. There were comments by members of the Australian team that Indian celebrations were way over the top. On landing in India, the Australians were witness to the huge rock star like reception given to the Indian team by the public and the government. Symonds in his syndicated column expressed his displeasure that the Indian players were rewarded hugely by the government and corporates and that they were seen in ads on all the TV channels. The language used by Symonds reeked of jealosy and Symonds had no business commenting about the amount of money made by Indian cricketers. He even went to the extent of publicly claiming that Sreesanth and Harbhajn would be shown their places by the Aussies. His comments drew equal reactions from the Indian players. Harbhajan accused the Aussies of being bad losers, while Sreesanth targeted Symonds on and off the field.

Nobody in India knew that monkey chants were racist. There has been no history of monkey chants in Indian sports. An embattled Symonds mistook chanting in native Indian languages to be symbian chants and complained about racism. It snowballed into a huge issue and now Indians knew that monkey chants got Symonds' goat. In subsequent matches, monkey chants were used by the crowd. The jury is still out on whether the crowd chanted with racist intentions or just to rattle Symonds. But the fact is the racist genie was let out of the bottle by none other than Symonds. Every incident was started by Symonds. Each time he adopted the facade of a victim.

Take for example the Sydney test. Harbhajan patted Lee on the backside to compliment him for bowling a good yorker. But Symonds butted in with expletives because in his own words "a test match is no place for opposition players to be friendly"!! Is this guy demented? An infuriorated Harbhajan claims he sweared back in his native tongue, Symonds claims he was called a monkey. Nobody else heard anything. Still the Aussies expected that their word be taken above that of Sachin who was closest to the incident!! Talk of a holier than thou attitude!! This I can do no wrong attitude is why the Aussies are universally despised. It reeks of hypocrisy.

After Justice Hansen exonerated harbhajan due to lack of evidence, common sense suggested that all the stake holders would allow the issue to die down. Instead, the Aussies and Symonds have expressed shock that Harbhajan was let off mildly. An Aussie player even cribbed about Indian influence and and money and how much it pisses him off!! Symonds could not confidently tell Hansen that he actually heard Harbhajan call him Monkey, but after the decision expressed shock to the press "I can't believe this. You know I'm telling the truth"!! The heights of righteous indignation.

Its high time that Cricket Australia pulled up errant players like Symonds and the equally culpable Ponting. These guys have reduced Australian cricket to a bunch of hypocrites and morons. The Australian team has had problems with every other team in the world. What they term hard and fair cricket is anything but fair. They have even alienated the Australian people with their ugly ways. By tolerating and suporting this behaviour, CA is doing a great disservice not just to cricket but also to the Australian people. The solution is to dump Ponting. A team takes the character of its leader. But is Michael Clarke who is being groomed to take over any better? Recent actions like his behaviour during the Sydney test suggest he is even worse. He's proved to be a liar and a cheat. The ideal guy to represent Aussie ideals would be Brett Lee or Hussey. The Aussie teams that played the game really hard but fair were the ones led by Border, Taylor and even Steve Waugh, who championed the art of mental disintegration. Australia has to reclaim this legacy.