Sunil Gavaskar has hit back at Ricky Ponting's comments. Ponting, while referring to Gavaskar's infamous "walk-out" at the MCG in 1981, had said the Indian legend wasn't an angel himself in his playing days.
Sunil Gavaskar: I don't look angelic, so I can't claim to be angelic. But I think Ricky Ponting must have been about seven years old when he talks about seeing that incident. But while he saw that incident I don't think he heard what had happened and the background to it.
If he has a look at the video he will find that I'm leaving the crease, going towards the dressing room, and I've turned back. That's when I tried to take Chetan Chauhan off. That happened only because I was abused. That's the reason I have been saying that abuse can be equal to all kinds of things, if you saw that happening with Gautam Gambhir.
The next day I realised what I had done was not right. I accepted it, I regretted the incident publicly at a press conference.
But the point is, Ricky Ponting and Cricket Australia are still in denial about their behaviour and the kind of language they use on the field. Unless and until they realise it's not making them popular or winning them friends, that's going to keep happening.
Now even Daniel Vettori has gone on record saying things about how overtly aggressive they are, and while banter was acceptable, I think it's the foul language that creates problems between teams as we have seen. I think it's something that they need to address very quickly.
CNN-IBN: Do you think the Australians are probably trying to divert attention from their performance in India?
Sunil Gavaskar: Yes, I think so. It's one way of trying to make excuses. They have been a champion side and suddenly they find that they have a challenger in India. Therefore, it's not just Ponting but all the other statements we've heard from other Australians probably trying to sell their books or whatever it is, are totally uncalled for. It just shows the world that they are at it.
Below is the news report on what Ponting said :
Ricky Ponting has lashed out at legendary Indian Sunil Gavaskar and other former players for often blaming the Australian team for on-field confrontations, saying the Indian opener was not an angel during his playing days.
"I know that over the past 10 years, probably longer, a notion has developed that the Australian team walks out onto the field intent on getting in fracas and having a few words... Unfortunately, as soon as a spectator or a commentator spots one of my team chipping on opponent, they assume it is a pre-meditated attack," Ponting said.
"The most laughable aspect is when I hear former players complaining, as though they never put a toe out of line in their day.
"I still have a vivid image of Sunil Gavaskar angrily trying to take his opening partner off the MCG with him in 1981 when he was given out lbw in a Test match, but to hear him today you'd think he was positively angelic when he was the best opening batsman in the world," he wrote in his Captain's Diary 2008.
Ponting said he was disappointed by the hypocrisy of former cricketers who never kept the standards in their hey-days but were demanding the same from his team.
"In the four or five days after the Sydney Test... inevitably, some ex-players - mostly the usual suspects - were into us, and I found their hypocrisy extremely disappointing. They were demanding standards from us that they had never kept themselves when they were Test stars.
"The classic came when Tony Grieg suggested that the batsmen of today should be walking to make it easier for the umpires. This was coming from a bloke who in his day made a virtue out of not walking.
"I always presumed that ex-players are employed by media outlets because their experience gives them a rare insight into the pressure elite cricketers are under and the way we think, but it seems to me that many of them forget about their past lives the minute they are handed a press pass.
Ponting also took a dig at just retired Indian captain Anil Kumble, saying his comment 'only one team was playing within the spirit of the game' after the Sydney Test was borrowed from a former Australian skipper Bill Woodfull.
"I'm not sure how extensive Anil's knowledge of cricket history is, but - as was picked up immediately by reporters - his comments echoed those made by Australian captain Bill Woodfull during the acrimonious bodyline series of 1932-33.
"'There are two teams out there, one is trying to play cricket and the other is not', Woodfull had said to English managers during the third Test of that series," he said.
Ponting and the Australian current and former players (like Gilchrist) seems to be exploring writing career or they are just trying to divert atention from the humliation they suffered in India.
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