Gilly questions Sachin's integrity

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

Former Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist has stunned the cricketing world when he questioned Sachin Tendulkar's integrity and called him a 'bad sport'. Gilchrist was referring to Sachin's stand during the 'monkey gate' controversy involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds during the infamous Sydney Test during India's tour to Australia. Gilly alleges that Sachin changed his statement in the two hearings to save his team-mate Harbhajan who the Australians thought was guilty of racial abuse.

He also went on to add that Sachin was never present during the dressing room handshakes after India had suffered defeats. Gilly added that the Australian team played aggressive cricket on the field but don't take it off the ground but accused the Indian team of doing so. He said when Australia won the test match none of the Indians came out to shake hands and congratulate them and it was Sachin who was nowhere to be found.

This statements have shocked the cricketing world as Adam Gilchrist has been a highly respected cricketer for playing the game in the right spirit unlike most of his teammates. He famously walked out after edging the ball in 2003 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka not waiting for the umpires signal. But his questioning the integrity of the Master Blaster on his integrity is surely not in the right spirit.

Can Gilchrist claim that there was fair play from the Aussie side during that test. He needs to clearly distinguish between aggression and cheating. What happened during that test was there for the entire world to see. He may not have gone through the headlines of newspapers in Australia which even slammed them as 'bunch of wild dogs'. After what happened in the ground did he expect a cheerful Indian team to take them for tea?

The entire incident at Sydney was an unfortunate one and perhaps no one other than Harbhajan Singh knows what he said. It is true that the muscle power of BCCI made sure that Harbhajan escaped easily. But isn't it also true his former team-mates Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were let off despite admitting to have shared dressing room information with a bookie when cricketers around the world were being served life bans.

Modern cricket is no longer a 'Gentleman's Game' and perhaps no country can credit itself of taking away this tag from the game like the way Aussies can. They were the people who started sledging at a professional level. The term 'mental disintegration' was coined in Australia. Gilly should have seen more things within the Aussie cricketing system rather than venturing out in the wild open. He played for a champion side but not for a side which was respected highly like West Indies of 80s.