Acrimony in the recent India-Aus series: It’s not cricket

Ironically, these very words were spoken by India captain Anil Kumble to describe the Australian tactics on the infamous "Monkeygate" controversy during the 2007-2008 tour of Australia, when the home team accused Harbhajan Singh of racial abuse of the Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds. Kumble handled the crisis in a masterly fashion and stood solidly by his player. 

Anil Kumble was in a similar situation recently, but in the role of the coach of the Indian team. Acrimony has been the word much used about the strained  relations between the Australia the visitors and India the host in the recent Test series which India won convincingly, but not before the visitors put up a great fight. And once again, Kumble has behaved with great dignity while wholeheartedly backing his captain and players. 

Unfortunately, skipper Virat Kohli’s in-your-face aggression has been blown up out of proportion by the Australian media to paint him as some kind of villain out to destroy the spirit of cricket. The way some of the Australians mocked him after his shoulder injury was in very poor taste. The worst joke was by Steve Smith who called M Vijay a cheat for claiming a slip catch which Smith believed had been picked up from the ground. However, Australian commentator Ian Chappell, one of the world’s greatest slip fielders in his time, categorically stated in an online interview that Vijay’s catch had been cleanly made. 

I called Smith’s claim a joke because the Australians are not exactly known for honesty on the cricket ground. Remember 

Michael Slater’s antics when he claimed a similar catch against Rahul Dravid in the Mumbai Test of the 2001 series? Or several such instances involving Ricky Ponting the fielder or batsman—in the good old Aussie tradition, he invariably looked innocent while claiming dubious catches, and never walked when he knew he was out. 

Though the media, both Indian and Australian, have enjoyed hyping up the on-field and off-field drama of this series, this has by no means been the worst series in terms of hostility between rival teams. I can remember more than a few instances when players crossed the line of civil behaviour on the field.  During the Perth Test during Pakistan’s 1981-82 tour of Australia, skipper Javed Miandad and fast bowler Dennis Lillee nearly came to blows while Miandad was running between the wickets. There’s a photograph showing Miandad threatening to hit Lillee with his bat, while Lillee is poised like a martial arts champion about to retaliate. Miandad charged Lillee with kicking him while he was running, after having deliberately stood in his path, while Lillee claimed Miandad hit him with his bat from behind. Umpire Tony Crafter and Australian captain Greg Chappell had a tough time separating the two warring men. 

In domestic cricket, West Zone pace bowler Rashid Patel aimed a beamer at North Zone opener Raman Lamba’s head during the 1990-91 Duleep Trophy final, then grabbed a stump and chased Lamba all the way to the boundary, leading to a crowd riot, and the suspension of both players. Lamba, we all know, unfortunately died later from an injury while fielding at forward short leg in Bangladesh. 

There have been other instances of highly unacceptable behaviour as when John Snow of England felled Sunil Gavaskar while the batsman was taking a single, and when South Africa’s non-striker Kepler Wessels hit bowler Kapil Dev with the bat in a role  reversal during a Test in South Africa. But none of these received as much publicity as the unpleasantness between India and Australia in the recent series, thanks largely to the phenomenal growth in the media attention cricket has been receiving in recent years. 

While Steve Smith has apologised for his silly remarks and his so-called ‘’brain-fade’’ during the Bengaluru Test, Kohli has been quoted as saying that some Australian cricketers are no longer his friends. On top of that, the Indian team refused to entertain an Australian request to join them in the dressing room for beer. While I am convinced that India played in the best sporting spirit during the recent series, this is one aspect of their behaviour that can be improved. Perhaps the IPL will present an opportunity to repair some of the damage done to the relations between Indian and Australian cricketers.

— The writer is an author, columnist and former cricketer