|
|
|
|
Sledging and the
New Indian Team
|
| |
 |
| |
| |
Sledging in cricket is as old as the game itself and it has existed since the
times of W G Grace, the official founder of the game. In one of the exhibition
matches W G Grace was declared leg before wicket. The bearded doctor
turned to the umpire and said, “The audience has come to watch me bat, not
you declaring me out”. The innings continued with Grace at the crease.
Though regarded as a gentleman’s game, cricketing history is now replete
with spicy instances of sledging. Some of them can be passed off as spirited banter
and some are nasty and demeaning. Australian players somehow manage to figure in
the majority of sledging incidents. Sledging on and off the field to rattle the psyche of
opponent seems to be their favored strategy. And they are consummate players in this
kind of game. They have raised sledging skills to an art form and get away with no or
little punishment every time while their opponents get docked off a part of their match
fees. |
Far from sledging, there was a time in Indian cricketing history
when some Indian players addressed cricketers from England
and Australia as – sir. They hailed the English and Australian
cricketers as superiors and thought playing against them a
special honor. When taunted by them, Indian players simply
grinned from ear to ear and carried on with the game. Lack
of command over the English language and the fear of
reprimand were the prime causes that prevented them
from retaliating.
Tell this to the bunch of youngsters like Sreesanth,
Bhajji, Ishant Sharma, Dhoni & Co. and they would drop
off their seats laughing. They would consider playing
against any country including the mighty Aussies a
privilege, but calling them as ‘sir’, unless they are
retired or knighted, is simply unthinkable. They do
not regard English, Australian, or South African cricketers as superiors. The current lot of Indian
cricketers are talented and bold. They can turn
bellicose if the situation demanded. They wouldn’t
simply turn away when sledged at. They would return
the favor with more venom. |
| The documented turn around in the
Indian cricketers’ attitude came long
back when Ravi Shastri retorted
acerbically to Mike Whitney’s verbal
lashing in a match. Shastri had hit the
ball in the direction of Mike Whitney
(fielding as 12th man in the match)
and was looking for a single. With
the ball in his possession, Mike
Whitney threatened Shastri with
these words, “If you leave the
crease I will break your f*****g
head.” To that Shastri promptly
replied without battling an
eyelid, “If you could bat as well
as you talk you wouldn’t be the |
If you could bat as well
as you talk you wouldn’t
be the f*****g
12th man. |
f*****g 12th man”.
That was in the late
1980s and the Aussies
were surprised to find
themselves at the
receiving end. Now our players can do pelvic
shaking jigs in the middle of the pitch,
show fingers, and even say, ‘Maa Ki’
– all when provoked.
There is absolutely nothing wrong
with this kind of attitude as long
as we play the game in positive
spirit. Our cricketers have never
done or said anything unprovoked.
It is impossible to remain calm when
somebody is raining expletives for no
good reason. In fact it’s timidity. And our
cricketers are fighters and champions. We should
not ask them to keep quite when somebody crosses
the limit, especially the Aussies. Our current level of
superlative cricketing talent can be complimented
with retaliatory sledging. We should give back the
Aussies generously; every single time. We should
be proud of the that fact India
is the only team that can
stand eyeball to eyeball with
the Aussies: both in cricket
and the verbal slugfests.
Anyways, we are having the
last laugh as our cuss words like
“Maa Ki” foolishly get interpreted
as “Monkey”. |
|
|
|
