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I accept that sledging is a part of cricket and most incoming batsman can expect a few words when they reach the middle. But over this summer it seems to have grown much uglier.
Australia and India have always had a love-hate relationship, and things are not improving. The incident involving Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh did not help and the pot’s been boiling ever since.
By David Warner’s own admission, the Australian and Indian teams did not get together, mingle and have a beer after the Test series concluded in Sydney. That is a far cry from last summer when the English team, after being hammered 5-0 in the Ashes, were invited into the Australian rooms for a beer – an offer they accepted.
Any animosity was concluded over a drink. Not a bad thing.
I’m not suggesting that the same invite was not afforded to the Indian players but whether it was and not accepted by the Indians or not offered at all, it says much about the state of affairs between these two teams.
When I grew up watching cricket, sledging wasn’t something you heard much about, mainly because of the standard of technology at the time – no stump microphones and cameras for starters. So the cliché of ‘what happens in the middle stays in the middle’ was adhered to and probably acceptable. I still believe from a player’s perspective that should be the case.
But in this day and age that perspective is also probably naive.
During the four-Test series both sides had many a player willing to mouth off, but they each had a prime combatant. In India’s corner was Virat Kohli, who would get involved even if meant coming from 50 feet away to do so. In Australia’s corner was Warner, who was in everything.
It’s well documented that Warner asked Rohit Sharma to speak English because he doesn’t speak nor understand Hindi. I guess that is fair enough. My issue is that Warner insists it was a polite request. I’ve seen the replay and I see nothing polite in it at all. And so I took his explanation for his actions on Monday morning radio as nothing but the words of someone who knows he came very close to crossing the line.
The exchange on Sunday was aggressive from both sides, which is hardly surprising because it’s been like that all summer.
And it’s getting boring. Really boring. It has the capability, if it continues on its current path, to take away from the great game. With respect to the last Test series we talk about a few things: Steve Smith and Virat Kohli’s incredible run rates, and the ugly scenes in the middle.
So when will enough be enough? For me it’s now.
You have a responsibility to act your age and act accordingly, and playing for your country – be it Australia or India – demands that.
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