Mr. Gilchrist, you have lost your marbles

What a shameless display of commercial greed by possibly the only modern day Australian cricketer who could have been called a gentleman. I am talking about the storm created by Gilchrist just before the launch of his biography “True Colours”. What an appropriate name indeed.

Don’t get me wrong, I am, well I was, a huge fan of Gili. For the skills he had, the attitude he had and more importantly the manner in which he played the game. However when he accuses Sachin and Indians of playing foul during the Sydney test and the Monkeygate affair and in the same breath ignores the actions of his fellow colleagues Symonds and Michael Clarke one starts questioning his every single action. Was he a sport in claiming a catch of Rahul Dravid in the same test match when the bat was nowhere near the ball? Was he fair in using a squash ball in his gloves while batting in that world cup final? Do the standards of his fair play change with the situation of the game? If we carefully start analyzing some of his performances then I guess the mask of a true sportsman that he wears starts peeling off.

Mr. Gilchrist, in the greed of getting some eyeball attention to your new biography in the largest market for cricket, I think you have just gone a bit too far. I and a number of Indians are going nowhere near that book of yours. I feel very sad that after those wonderful years watching you play this one image of yours creates a more overpowering image in mind than the rest. You are not my hero anymore.

PS: Read in the papers today that Sachin, in a television interview, mentioned that he was possibly the first person to wish the Oz team as they returned to the dressing room after 'winning' that Sydney test.

Aussies bite the dust at Mohali

The second test match of the India-Australia series being played at Mohali proved to be the proverbial waterloo for the world champion Test cricket side. They were comprehensively beaten by a very strong Indian side in every department of the game. I have never seen the Indian bowling to be so incisive in a long time and it was a welcome change if you ask me. For a long time now the Aussies have gone around the world with their nose in the air attitude, so it is good to see their backside on the ground here. My best moment was when Ishant got Ponting out in their second innings. The sight of the ball going through the gap between the bat and the pad and rattling the woodwork was very very satisfying.

I think MSD is a born leader. He has that magic ingredient that brings out the best out of any team that is at his disposal. His changes are aggressive, his directions are very subtle but effective and he is so calm and collected in the middle of all this. I remember the instructions he gave to Amit Mishra in the last over of Day 2. He said in Hindi something to the effect of "Bowl the next one round the wicket on his legs". The penultimate delivery was bowled round the wicket and a googly, Michael Clarke padded and was out LBW. The manner in which he changed the batting order in the second innings also indicated a sense of purpose to finish things. He looks like a captain who wants to take charge of the situation rather than sit and wait for things to happen. He also has a very mature head on his shoulders. His post match interview was so much “feet on the ground” experience that one wonders how he manages to stay calm. There are no excited high fives or shouts or dancing around the wickets. BTW, Dhoni made a subtle remark in the post match press conference about Amit Mishra, and said that it was good to have a leggie in the side "who could turn the ball". Did he mean to drop a hint to Kumble? I think Kumble will find it very difficult to retain his place if he does not take a handful of wickets in the next test match. The time has come for him to hand over the baton to MSD.

Ishant Sharma is another player who has improved with every outing since that inspired spell at Perth in the last series. He has made a habit of beating Ponting's bat and makes him look like a schoolboy trying to learn the art of playing deliveries in the corridor of uncertainty. I think by the end of the tour, Ponting would be nervous wreck trying to remember how to bat against Indians. Ishant is developing into a great bowler and the good thing is that he has a number of years still ahead of him. He creates those awkward angles and his height also makes it possible for him to get bounce off the good length deliveries like Joel Garner.

Amit Mishra made a big difference to the balance of the Indian attack. For once we had four bowlers who all bowled different styles and all bowled well. So there was no respite for the Aussies to clobber the weakling. Amit has a Warne like loop to the bowling and is not afraid to flight the ball. He is slower than Piyush Chawla and takes time between his deliveries too. He should be a handful on a turning track.

One other event that happenned post this match was the 80% match fee penalty imposed on Zaheer Khan for his send-off to Hayden. Now by any yardstick of fairness Matty Hayden is not a gentleman cricketer. He has tried to get under the skin (pun intended) of the Indians many times in the past. I completely agree with Sunil Gavaskar’s comment that the match referees tend to be biased against the Indians (or brown skin). Ponting walking over to the umpire to question Sehwag’s dismissal is not considered as dissent by the same match referee. Ponting even got away with his direct remarks to Sehwag. There are numerous instances in the recent past which support this hypothesis. This is absolutely one sided and if the balance of the game is so much tilted towards the fairer skin, then they should abandon the whole idea of having a match referee.

So all in all a wonderful game of test match cricket. India staying on top since the first step on the field and not letting off the pressure. I hope they win the series going on from here. Let us wait and watch.

Read Peter Roebuck’s article from the "The Age" titled “Australia's cricketers and the wearing of the saggy green” at this URL:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/cricket/australias-cricketers-and-the-wearing-of-the-saggy-green/2008/10/21/1224351252086.html