Tags:
Journalism of Courage
It’s not easy to be Harbhajan Singh in Australia. The ‘bad boy’, as he’s being referred to here, got booed by the crowd at the MCG — be it him walking in to bat or being dismissed, or when he bowled.
His partner in the controversy, Andrew Symonds, got the biggest cheers from the crowd that also reserved lot of praise for Adam Gilchrist. Sreesanth got a slightly muted but still negative welcome to Australia.
But Harbhajan was in high spirits and Sreesanth ignored the temptation to play to the gallery.
Wired up
Adam Gilchrist is one great character, a jolly good cricketer and we all know that he is the first one to appreciate any gesture. So it shouldn’t have been surprising when Virender Sehwag, wired to the commentators, said on air that Gilchrist was a role model for all cricketers and a great human being.
The Australian wicketkeeper-bat, listening to the comments while taking his stance, quickly ran up to Sehwag at point and appreciated the kind words with a handshake. Not just that, for all those tuned-into Channel Nine, Gilchrist gave a running commentary, as felt by a batsman “Oh..it’s a slower one from Sreesanth, I am tempted to go for my shot… and just hit straight to the fielder,” he said. Surely, Gilly was giving a trial run for his next job.
Off colour
It was a bad day at the MCG for Indians. In the women’s Twenty20 match between Australia and England — just before the men’s encounter — two Indian-origin women had a rather ordinary day.
Medium-pacer Isha Tara Guha, who plays for England, conceded 25 in her three overs without taking a wicket, while Lisa Sthalekar, turning out for Australia scored just 17. She didn’t get any wicket either with her off spin. Sthalekar, however, had the pleasure of being part of the winning team — Australia emerging victors by 21 runs.
