Kolkata: Every cricketer in a game of cricket slogs and battles it out just to have that final hurray, that final laugh at the end of the game. But, all his efforts go down the drains when he crosses the thin line of decency.
Indian seamer Ishant Sharma has been at the receiving end for his bowling. But never did anyone think he could stoop so low. It all happened during the 27th over on the second day’s play in Bengaluru in the on-going Test series. Australian skipper Steven Smith had just come out to bat as the Indians were looking to pressurise him to commit an error. Perhaps Ishant had that in mind as well. After bowling a delivery outside the off-stump to which Smith shouldered his arms, the pacer went on to make a “monkey face” to the Aussie captain. Smith retaliated by making funny faces at the bowler and this banter between the two continued for quite some time. Indian skipper Virat Kohli couldn’t help but laugh at this incident and Smith was however dismissed some overs later.
But why did you have to make a fool of yourself, Ishant? Well, Ishant has been under a lot of pressure even in the second Test and did not look in good form with the ball. Instead of focusing on his bowling, he resorted to such cheap tricks to grab the limelight. The struggle for the hapless bowler continued until he got a wicket finally which was quite late in the day.
But if things are looked into from a different perspective, what Ishant did was perhaps aimed at giving the Aussies a taste of their own medicine. Historically, the Australian team has always carried the legacy of being master sledgers. Verbal duels are quite regular for them.
Some (in)famous incidents come to mind when Australians have sledged. Though they have been the absolute masters of this practice, they have got back suitable answers from the opposition, as the years have progressed.
The infamous Dennis Lillee-Javed Miandad episode in 1981, where the Aussie paceman allegedly kicked the Pakistani batsman forcing him to retaliate is part of history. And Miandad did so by lifting up his bat to hit the bowler.
The episode between Sachin Tendulkar and Glenn McGrath in 2000 during the ICC Knockout Trophy is recalled too. McGrath had a crack at Tendulkar and hurled verbal abuses at him. The maestro, in response hit the pacer to all corners of the ground and also abused him, which is quite not “Tendulkar-ly”.
And, let’s not forget the Monkeygate drama between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in the 2007-08 Test series, which grabbed the headlines.
And yet with the passage of time, things have remained the same. Only this time, it was Mitchell Johnson the Aussie, the sledger and in the opposition – an aggressive batsman named Kohli. Johnson had a go at the Indian and Kohli retaliated too, both verbally and with the bat in the 2014-15 Test series.
If sledging is an art, then the Aussies are the pioneers of it. But the Aussies’ foes on the ground have learnt how to give it back when they are sledged. And today, the Aussies are no longer the masters of it.
A big laugh! You, Aussies pay a heavy price for your own doing! Accept it! And learn some lessons!