The Australian Cricket team reeling under one of their heaviest defeats
(320 runs to be precise) to India has got one of their retired chatterbox
Adam Gilchrist to selectively leak extracts from his autobiography.
He might be having 2 distinct goals here.One is obviously to create a
controversy and dilute the high moral of the Indian Cricket Team.The other
goal is surely aimed at filling his own pocket.
Mr Gilchrist is surely hoping that his autobiography sells like
hot potatoes.He is accusing no less than a person of the stature of
Sachin Tendulkar of cheating.Surely his autobiagraphy is going to make
him richer.
Mr Adam Gilchrist thinks he is the owner of the word honesty.He might
be thinking that by walking even when umpires gave him not out,he had
earned a name for himself for his honesty during his playing days.And so,
now,he can judge who is honest and who is not honest.He convinently
forgets the number of instances he appealed for obvious no-outs in his
capacity as a wicketkeeper.
Sachin Tendulkar,the world knows is a player of impeccable behaviour
and credentials on and off the field.Even Australia's greatest player
Sir Don Bradman was impressed with Sachin so much that he invited
Sachin to meet him and famously said that Sachin reminds him of his
own batting.Sachin's career spanning almost 19 years is an open book
and except for a wrong accusation of ball tampering,no one ever had
any bad thing to say about him.
Mr.Gilchrist should know that Indian Cricket lovers who hugely admired
Gilchrist are terribly disappointed and are seething with anger at these
unwarranted autobiographical lies.Sachin is one of India's National Icons
and people like Gilchrist should be careful about his own personal security
if he is planning to visit India after this mud-slinging.
Have a look at the news report in smh.com.au on extracts of his
autobiography:-
"
Former Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist is set to further inflame tensions between the two most powerful cricketing nations by questioning India's sportsmanship - singling out their greatest player, Sachin Tendulkar.
The retired wicketkeeper claimed the biggest difference between Australia and India was that his former teammates left hostilities on the field while many of their antagonists including Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh often snubbed their opponents.
The explosive claims in Gilchrist's autobiography, to be released next week, centre on the hostilities between the two cricketing powers last summer which escalated after the Indians claimed Australia had not played in the spirit of the game.
Gilchrist surprisingly hinted at tensions with Tendulkar, revealing he was "hard to find for a changing room handshake after we have beaten India", and questioned his honesty during the Monkeygate scandal.
He also continued the Australians' attack on off spinner Singh, who was accused of racism, and criticised both the Indian and Australian boards for their handling of the scandal, which he said drove "a stake through the entire summer".
Writing about the dramatic final moments of the SCG Test when the last two batsmen, Anil Kumble and Ishant Sharma, walked off without any Australians offering a handshake, Gilchrist said: "We went into the Indian changing room and shook hands.
"Not all their players could be found, which points to another subtle cultural difference. In the Australian mentality, we play it hard and are then quick to shake hands and leave it all on the field. Some of our opponents don't do it that way. Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, can be hard to find for a changing room handshake after we have beaten India. Harbhajan can also be hard to find.
"I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks. But the criticism of us for not immediately shaking hands with Kumble and Sharma was unfair, and typified a moment when everything we did was wrong."
In his book True Colours, serialised in tomorrow's Good Weekend Magazine, Gilchrist also took aim at the Indian players and officials over the major scandal of the tour - Symonds's claims that Singh called him a monkey, which began after the off spinner patted Brett Lee on the backside as they passed mid-pitch.
Recalling the events of the day which seem to have tarnished the relationship between the nations, Gilchrist said: "The next thing I saw, Symo … said to Harbhajan something like, 'Don't touch him, you've got no friends out here."'
Gilchrist said he next heard Matthew Hayden tell Harbhajan, "You've got a witness now," before overhearing the spinner telling skipper Ricky Ponting, "Sorry, I apologise, it won't happen again."
"The look on Harbhajan's face was very telling," Gilchrist said. "He looked like he was thinking, 'Oh shit. What have I done here? They're all over me."'
Gilchrist, Australia's leading gloveman when it comes to dismissals and one of the most exhilarating batsmen of his generation, saved some of his harshest criticism for officials from both countries following Monkeygate, accusing the Indian board of "playing politics" and Cricket Australia and the ICC of "caving in" when the spinner's original charge was downgraded and his suspension quashed.
"The Indian board made threats that they would take the team home - a disgraceful act, holding the game to ransom unless they got their way," Gilchrist said.
He also took aim at Tendulkar for changing his story in an appeal he described as a "joke".
"Tendulkar, who'd said at the first hearing that he hadn't been able to hear what Harbhajan had said - and he was a fair way away, up the other end, so I'm certain he was telling the truth - now supported Harbhajan's version that he hadn't called Symo a 'monkey' but instead a Hindi term of abuse that might sound like 'monkey' to Australian ears," Gilchrist said. "The Indians got him off the hook when they, of all people, should have been treating the matter of racial vilification with the utmost seriousness."
".
Now these are all his versions.Who is he.How can anybody believe him.
He himself says here that the Australian Team did not shake
hand with the last Indian batting pair on the field.He is talking about
incidents in the Sydney test,a test Australia won by CHEATING.
He himself appealed for a catch of Dravid which was upheld by the
umpire when it was very clearly not out.From the TV footage taken from
stump camera,it's clear to every one who watched it that it
would have been clearly visible to him that the ball came off the pad.
He himself was accused by many of bad sportsman spirit in that game.
Where was he when his own captain Ricky Ponting claimed a bump catch.
TV footages showed clearly that it was a bump catch.Ponting surely would
have known because his hand hit the ground with the ball hitting the
ground first.What about Michael Clarke,he gave a catch to second slip,
still he waited as though he was not out.
All these incidents prompted the Indian captain Anil Kumble,who
normally,rarely accuses any one,to say that only the Indian team was
playing in the spirit of the game in that ill-tempered match.
Hope Mr.Gilchrist is accusing his teammates also of cheating in his
going-to-be-money-spinner-autobiography!.It's ok if he does not mention
that he himself cheated.After all it's his autobiography.
The Australian teams always had some thing to say,some times creating
ugly scenes.Instances are so many.Who can forget McGrath's behaviour on
the field on many occassions,Slater's angry words to Dravid etc etc...
One of their greatest player,Steve Waugh,even gave a pet name for this
onfield ugly-talking business.Mental disintegration.
The problem now is this:When the Australians started to get a taste of
their own medicine from teams like India they are not able to tolerate.
They are crying like napkin babies.
It's a fact that Harbhajan is not famous for his good behaviour on the
field.But the player involved,Andrew Symonds, in the incident with him
is not a Saint for sure,every body knows that.People have seen his on
field behaviour.
There are around 10 to 12 teams playing International cricket and it's
absolutely sure that none of the teams who played Australia for atleast
a few games will be having a good impression of Australian players'
behaviour. Even their cricket board had some programme to improve the
image of their national team.During this period when the Australian
behaviour was at its worst this "great honest man"
was part of the Australian cricket team as Vice-Captain!!!.He could have
given lecture to his team mates on onfield behaviour and HONESTY tricks
and tips.
Now to conclude this :
SACHIN does not need a certificate in honesty from "Adam Gilchrist University".Sachin is a GEM.Once in a generation Cricketer.A great
player,a great human being,still very humble,very polite.He is a role
model for all cricket lovers.Hope Sachin does not get upset with what
Gilchrist "The Honest Man" says.Afterall when we walk on the roads,some
times we see stray dogs barking.
What do we do..We walk away without minding it....
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