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.