Kolkata: Look who is talking. Former Australian captain, Ian Chappell who is never short of words when it comes to taking swipes at players from other countries, has a piece of advice for Indian captain Virat Kohli. “If I had one criticism of Indian captain Virat Kohli it’s that he’s a bit too emotional. I’ve always thought as a captain that it’s best if you keep your display of emotions pretty even, but he doesn’t. He’s a very emotional guy. To say he’s worse than somebody else is unfair as everyone does it, and some blokes do it differently to Kohli. It’s ridiculous to allow that much chatter to occur on the field,” writes Chappell in his column for Channel Nine.
That’s fair enough! Noble words from a veteran. But what about his Australian cricketers who have always crossed the line when it comes to taking on their opponents? For a change, unlike a true Aussie, Chappell blames the Australian players for sledging as well and wants the ICC to step in and take stern action against on-field banters. “The officials need to take a harder stance against on-field chatter. I also don’t think the Australians are in any position to start throwing stones. They’re no choirboys themselves,” Chappell writes referring to the extreme level of sledging indulged in by both India and Australia in the ongoing Test series.
“There’s been a lot of bad blood and chatter between the two countries so far, but that’s because it’s been good and intense cricket. But the administrators are foolish if they’re going to allow all this talking to continue on the field,” he adds. “All teams are into it, some more than others, but they’re all guilty of it,” he opines.
According to Chappell, it’s the ICC which is to be held responsible for this mess. “It’s been allowed to escalate over the years, and nobody is stepping in to stop it. It’s going to cause a huge problem one day on the field. It already causes a bit of animosity from time to time, but from the evidence so far this series it will go beyond that at some stage,” he puts in.
Perhaps, Chappell is right. The extreme level of competitiveness is egging players on to target victory at any cost. Provocations are leading to nastier incidents that do not augur well for the image of the Gentleman’s Game. But unfortunately, is cricket still a Gentleman’s Game? And if it is not, blame Chappell’s countrymen for the sad exit of the gentleman from the game.
It is indeed time for the ICC to tackle the situation which might go out of control in the days to come. At the same time, it’s also left to players to ensure they don’t cross the line. Gamesmanship is a problem that has severely affected the reputation of the game over the years. Unless and until, the officials takes a tough call on it, the bad blood is only going to get worse.
(With inputs from PTI)