By Veena Gabriel
After all the water has flown under the bridge regarding the sportmanship of Indian Crickerters, and True Colours, here is one person who has full faith in their calibre,the pace ace New Zealander Shane Bond.
The 33 year old pacer is representing “Delhi Giants” in the on going ICL matches, the rebel Indian Cricket League.He is quite candid about joining ICL as it has given him both a nice career and a financial security. He has the record of bagging 79 wickets in 17 matches.
Bond is planning to shift his base to India, to train these youngsters in near future as he sees enormous talent in young cricketers who could make real difference if they are given proper training and guidance,he specifically mentioned Ishant,R.P.Singh and Zaheer Khan.
But the best part is his observation regarding the ongoing India Austrlia series.As per him he is quite impressed with the Indian pacers for the way they are dealing with Australians especially Ishant creating problems with his well planned deliveries.And the way Indian Bowlers are challenging everybody with their shrp bowling display
So, Mr. Gilchrist, not everyone is a sore loser.And everyone except you have some good things to praise about Indian Cricketers,It is time you meet Shane Bond
“Not Cricket, Mr. Gilchrist”
Within 24 hours Adam Gilchrist the former Australian wicket Keeper has changed his tune.
In “True Colours” the autobiography of Gilchrist he called Sachin a liar for changing his story in an appeal in the monkeygate, the unsavory incident involving Harbhajan Singh and the epitome of politeness Symonds.As per him Sachin was telling the truth the first time when at first hearing he said he was unable to hear what was going on between the two warring players, but he changed his stand in the next hearing,supporting Bhajji’s version. that he hadn’t called Symond a monkey but a Hindi abuse which sounded like monkey to the Australian.
He also raised a question regarding the sportsmanship of Indians and praised his side describing how magnanimously his team had gone to the dressing room to shake hands with the Indian Team after it had lost the Sydney match,but was unable to find Sachin and Bhajji.
As per him the Australians leave all the bad feelings on the ground itself .
I fail to understand where this very understanding attitude disappeared when Kumble and Ishant were ignored when they were waiting to wish the Australian team after Sydney match?
Anyway after strong protests after he questioned Sachin’s integrity Gilchrist has taken a U turn like all the clever politicians and blamed the media for blowing things out of context.As per him the above incident is covered in four pages in his book but the media has latched on only few lines. Now he is claiming that he respect the Batting Champ Sachin, so much so that he even contacted him to clarify his stand.
Naturally Tendulkar is maintaining a dignified silence on the whole controversy.Obviously the subtle cultural difference is coming into open ,Mr.Gilchrist?
If it is a ploy to garner publicity for the book,Gilchrist has certainly succeeded. At least he can be rest assured that some copies of his book will be purchased by Indian Cricket Lovers.
But Cricket was supposed to be a Gentleman’s Game,and this is surely not cricket,Mr.Gilchrist
