Gautem's Gambit

You've just got to love Inja versus 'Stra, don't you? Never a match goes by without some sort of Controversy. Someone says something in the heat of the moment, someone else gets upset, someone gets a ban..... And just when you already thought it was loads of fun as it was, the BCCI make it genuine theatre by dusting off their Sunday-best siege-mentality, their favourite dummy-spit, and calling everyone a racist. And once Spanky Roebuck gets involved you know you're REALLY in for a show. Get some popcorn, subscribe to Tony's comments, and laugh yourself stupid, it's great stuff. Not that that's QUITE happened quite yet, though - but just give it time.

Not seen the footage yet? Some bright spark has put it on Youtube. You'll find the incident in question at around the 1:30 mark.



Is it just me, or is there really nothing to it? He runs past Watson, and sort of leaves his elbow trailing. Was it deliberate? You betcha. Was there any weight behind it? Not much. Was it hard? Please. When placed next to incidents involving Lillee, Thomson, Croft - even McGrath, it barely seems worth talking about.

If anything, all it points out is what a bunch of schoolboys cricketers can be - and that ultimately they're all as bad as each other. Katich and Gambir getting all hot under the collar is just priceless - you can almost, but not quite, lip-read the "Yeah? So's your Mum!" remarks. In fact, in the comments - oh the comments, find it and read the comments, they're GOLD - someone's had a go at doing just that.

Naturally, Gambir's tried to play the role of the injured party, and the Ugly Australians card. All the way through the transcript of the appeal it comes up again and again - "I was sworn at," "but he was bigger than me!" "but it's not FAIR!", and inevitably, "they started it!!" What seems more likely to me, however, is that it's probably just as likely that it WASN'T the Australians that began the exchanges - you can see from Watson that somewhere along the line Gambir has well-and-truly got under his skin, and the same can be said for Katich.

To that end, going back to the transcript, second last paragraph - to whom should this remark really be applied?

Constant verbal assaults are also unbecoming, and also bring the game into disrepute, the more so if their intention is to break the player's concentration and provoke a loss of temper.

Not that I'm defending the Australians at all - if anything, they definitely come off second-best in that video. They take the tack of a team that has used all its cards and is now resorting to petty abuse. Hardly the approach of the seasoned professional. Gambir had them exactly where he wanted, and should have recognised it.

One thing's for sure, it's going to make the 4th Test an interesting one. India are without their player of the series so far, and yet another bad-tempered incident has marred an Indian-Australian series. I hadn't been enjoying it so far - now I'm glued to it.

Naturally though, given the nationalities involved in the disciplinary hearing, you can draw now other conclusion from this other that Gambir's suspension is the result of an Australian, English and South African plot to destroy Indian cricket. Racists. Racists! One and all.

You read it here first....