FORMER Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga has advised champion spinner Muttiah Muralidharan not to tour Australia. Ranatunga fears Muralidharan will again be targetted by aggressive Australian crowds during the test series. This could be the result of a racially heated one-day series between Australia and India.
Muralidharan had bananas thrown at him at the Gabba on a previous tour. He boycotted the 2004 Top End series because of potential trouble. 
He was infamously no-balled several times for throwing by controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair at the MCG in 1995-96. He has since then endured repeated chants of “no-ball” by Australian crowds during his bowling delivery. Three years ago Prime Minister John Howard publicly said that the Sri Lankan was a chucker. Muralidharan claimed this month he was now better equipped mentally to handle what crowds may dish up.
JASON GILLESPIE fears that the best efforts of officials to prevent racial abuse from Australian crowds this summer will have little impact. In an interview he told a newspaper that he “might have to grin and bear it. You shouldn’t have to, but that’s often the way it is, unfortunately.” Gillespie claimed that he was always abused by overseas crowds, with South Africa and New Zealand the worst, but that he just accepted it as part of the game.
However, he said the racial abuse Symonds had received in India was ‘totally unacceptable’ (… why are monkey calls more unacceptable than other forms?). Officials are threatening to throw out anyone using racial abuse but if a whole section of the crowd, like the people on the hill at Adelaide Oval, start racial abuse are they going to eject the whole hill, all 5000 people?
My point of writing this post is why is so much noise being made this time? Teams from the subcontinent have been abused and misbehaved with so many times in the past. I hope the Prime Minister doesn’t get involved this time.
While talking about the Indian tour to Australia skipper Ricky Ponting singled out paceman Sreesanth, who has been involved in on-field verbal clashes with Symonds, as one likely target of crowds Down Under. “I’m sure that at different times Sreesanth and a few of the guys will cop a hard time from the Australian fans,” Ponting told reporters in Sydney.
What ever happened to cricket being a gentleman’s game?
from Vishesh :)
from Reema :)
11 Comments
October 24, 2007 at 9:23 am
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October 24, 2007 at 10:57 am
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October 24, 2007 at 4:26 pm
this double standard game will only stop when we Asian teams will stand up for our rights. The truth is that Australia is unable to digest the recent Indian win at T20 WCUP and now its trying to defame the Asian cricket by creating such controversies.
Asian bowlers like Shoaib n Murlitharan and many others are always under ICC scrutiny for made up reasons. Why cant they accept things the way they are ?
October 24, 2007 at 4:29 pm
this double standard game will only stop when we Asian teams will stand up for our rights. The truth is that Australia is unable to digest the recent Indian win at T20 WCUP and now its trying to defame the Asian cricket by creating such controversies.
Asian bowlers like Shoaib n Murlitharan and many others are always under ICC scrutiny for made up reasons. Why cant they accept things the way they are ?
October 24, 2007 at 5:28 pm
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October 25, 2007 at 1:25 pm
And some people *wink, wink* are so trigger-happy to criticize Indian “racism” but not when non-Indians indulge in the same. Makes me wonder if they are really against “racism” no matter who does it, or only focus on Indians. Should we call them pseudo-anti-racists?
October 25, 2007 at 2:40 pm
//pseudo-anti-racists-// you have enriched the English language. Thanks Amit, another important contribution by an Indian to the world. You make us proud
)
October 25, 2007 at 2:41 pm
You are so right Ammar.
October 25, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Question is was it ever a gentleman’s sport?
I think Gillespie has a point there…if cricketers stopped and had a whinge and refused to visit countries every time the crowd said something they didnt like then there would be no game its a bit pathetic on both sides. I dont think ‘chucker’ is a racist comment its not race-specific. If somebody is a chucker then fact is they are a chucker…and Im not saying he is a chucker because I dont even know.The double standards is probably more in the reporting than in what actually happened. Best thing is get on with the game, train hard, beat the opponent and be happy about it.
Having said all that the behaviour of the crowds as reported is disgusting…
Paul
October 26, 2007 at 3:08 am
Well, there have been plenty of instances in cricket (Bodyline in 1932, use of aluminium bat by Lillee, Gavaskar-Lillee spatChappell’s underarm bowling) that show it’s not really a gentleman’s game, and players have been willing to bend/compromise the rules to win. But yes, there are also many instances of players acting honorably and gentlemanly. So, a mixed bag.
October 26, 2007 at 7:52 am
Paul,
Not everybody who played cricket was a gentleman but most people were.
I agree that cricketers shouldn’t refuse going to other countries due to crowd behaviour. As far as chucking being racial is concerned- After the ICC has cleared you twice if the umpire rules against you it sounds fishy. The track record of this particular umpire against the subcontinental teams is bad. //Best thing is get on with the game, train hard, beat the opponent and be happy about it// this is the best way to handle it but when the Prime minister of a country gets invovled I guess it is going too far.
Amit,
I saw the TV series on Bodyline long time back. I wonder if it is available even now. It was very interesting.There were instances of rowdy behaviour earlier also but there it is happening too often. Cricket is becoming too aggresive and media is also playing its role in sensationalising it.