Momma, he hit me!
Gautam Gambhir, who has appealed his one-Test ban for elbowing Shane Watson, is regularly on the lookout for a confrontation when he is batting, according to Michael Hussey. "He looks around for it [chat], to be honest," Hussey said. "It hasn't been a plan of ours to go at him and talk or whatever ... but I must admit he does go around the field looking to engage certain players and looking to get involved and that sort of thing.That must be why Brett Lee, Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting began the verbals directed at Gambhir from the second ball of the second innings at Bangalore.
"So maybe that is part of his character, looking for a clash to try to pump himself up a bit more. He's always looking to engage, not so much 'g'day how are you going', but an intense look. It's quite funny really."Yeah, it cracks me up too. But whats really funny is watching big, muscular, big-boy Born-Again-Christian, and even-bigger-I'll-scream-if-you-talk-back-to-me-cause-I'm-the-Hulk, complaining to umpires. Whatever happened to "leave it out on the paddock"?
Good one, that. Sort of like kneecapping the guy. Or like picking a fight, and then going running to Momma. Or the match ref.
Hussey said Gambhir reminded him of Justin Langer because he was a "small and punchy little character". "He's a very good player and probably someone who has exceeded our expectations about how well he has played," he said. "We're sort of hoping he'll miss the last Test but I think he'll still play pending his appeal."
posted by Samir Chopra at 4:09 PM
6 Comments:
Samir,
Your examples are talking points for the jingoistic aussie media to pick up and make an issue. I am sure you are aware of the likes of Malcolm Conn who never lets go of an opportunity to bray about "the undisciplined savages from india with the worst record when it comes to on-field altercations." He repeats that same line virtually in all his columns (about 3-4 per day during the current series). Often he throws in the bit about how "India creates 80% of the wealth in cricket and thereby treats ICC as its own fiefdom" for variety. And of course Australian cricketers are self-anointed keepers of "spirit of cricket".
Anyway...sad to see someone like Hussey resort to these games but really shows that as a team they have really lost the plot. They are still a talented team and will fancy themselves to square the series in Nagpur. But that's only because I have seen India too many times squander such opportunities.
On a sidenote, note how Hussey was talking about his moral dilemma of choosing between Chennai and WA for the T20 Champs League. Surely, his big payday in the IPL had nothing to do with it. Or the $200,000 sweetener that WA stand to earn for letting Hussey go.
I will not even comment on the idiocy that Gilchrist has been sprouting over the last couple of weeks. But its further proof of a group of individuals with their heads too far up their arse.
any further proof needed how shallow they are from within?
Now this makes one look at this incident from a totally different perspective... a well planned canning indeed.
I guess they have understood that it is easy to get the Indians to behave silly within the spectrum of the rules. So it now looks like they use it against the one who most threatens them. Interesting.
These sledging matches are getting a little boring now to be honest. Can we get back to cricket please? The one where its the bat and the ball that do the talking...
Hey mate! I have actually never seen your articles. I like your work. Huss was very good with the way he brought his comments to the surface, still explaining how Gambhir is a tough competitor, but also how it was the logical pitfall to him being put on the sidelines. Going further into it just creates a whole new topic.
I have my own site with my own articles relating directly to Australian cricket, you may enjoy a quick read there. http://www.canaryyellowblog.blogspot.com , it is titled 'The Baggy Green, Chirps & Quick Singles'. Maybe pull off a link exchange?
Keep writing, big Test approaches us now!
Sunny: Conn seems to think if you didn't get penalized for it, it didn't happen! Like you, I'm worried about Nagpur (and especially after the second day). Fingers crossed!
SP: Overall, I'd say I'm tired of all the sniping via the press. I don't notice this with any other side in the world.
Scorpicity: the way things are set up in the disciplinary framework, these sorts of events will happen again and again.
Megha: I hear you - let the games begin!
Ian: Welcome to the blog. I've already checked out yours and will be glad to add you to the blogroll. Cheers!
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