Fast forward to 2008 and Gautam Gambhir sticking an elbow into Shane Watson and well, I think you get the drift. And this was by no means an islolated incident. Many of the Indian cricket team today have been found guilty of unsportsmanlike behaviour (even Dravid was once caught rubbing a lozenge on a cricket ball)at some time or the other, notwithstanding their shrill protests of innocence. Be it ball-tampering, over-appealing, not sticking to over rates, bowling with dodgy actions...we seem to be doing it all with relish. Of course, if we are ever caught, the Indian cricket board promptly steps in and threatens to cancel all cricket with the offending nation. How else can you justify the fact that Harbhajan got away on the grounds that he had not called Symonds a monkey. He was, in fact, only abusing his mother ("teri maa ki...")!
What is really shocking is that most of the media and so-called cricket pundits seem to support this metamorphosis. One TV channel yesterday went so far as to claim that India should stop following the principles of Gandhi and give as good as they get. Yeah, yeah, we know how that one works, right? An eye for an eye. Perfect recipe for a blind world.
So, has the age of the Ugly Indian arrived? Are we going to be what the Aussies were in the seventies and the Pakistanis were in the eighties and nineties? I really hope not. The likes of Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman and among the new crop, MS Dhoni, still represent all that is good about the Gentleman's Game and the way India has always played it.
Oh, and I am sure Gambhir will get away scot-free (a fine, in all probability). After all, if he does not, we can always cancel the Aussie tour!
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