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Journalism of Courage
International policy matters are tailor-made to reduce conflict. Or so it is said. But if inadequacies lie in the agreement itself, Sydney-like conflicts become unavoidable.
Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting sat before the match referee Mike Procter before the first Test in Melbourne and decided to play the gentleman’s game, as it should be. And like it has been the tradition since Ponting took over the captaincy in 2004, the Australian once again put forward his point of view — now one of the most debatable — that players will play the game honestly and the umpires shall take the player/captain’s word as final if in doubt on the field.
While it’s routine for the two skippers to meet before a series and agree on certain issues— what can be termed as matters of policy — this particular clause has been different from what is agreed upon in any other series in any other country, if not unique.
So Kumble, ever the gentleman on and off the field, fell for the general niceties of the agreement without going into the nitty gritties, and it was all verbally agreed upon in the pre-series captain’s meeting. Little did he know that the man who proposed the clause, will use it to his advantage.
India have realised their mistake, but the lesson has come a bit too late in the series. The team management has hinted that the agreement will now be reviewed.
According to a senior member of the team, they have already decided upon a review of this clause and that would be intimated citing examples from the second Test. “We had some respect for certain Australian cricketers, but they have disappointed us with their actions. I don’t think it would be wise now to go back again to the same guy and hope that he would be honest this time,” he said.
Kumble too showed his ire at the spirit shown by the Australian team. “We’d like to play hard on the field and expect that from Australia as well. We had decided before the series that we would be honest. I’ve played my cricket very sincerely and honestly, that’s the approach my team takes, and we expect that from Australia as well.
“I don’t want to say anything more at the moment, we have to wait and see on that. Sometimes it happens that in the heat of the moment you take those chances and then probably don’t say anything on that. It’s a part of the game,” he said.
Ponting himself openly declared on the second day that Rahul Dravid was not out after he admitted to not collecting it cleanly, but changed his stance on the final day when he first claimed a catch off Dhoni that he had clearly grounded, and then declared Sourav Ganguly out when going by Michael Clarke’s word, who had taken the catch off the ground and the batsman and umpire had doubts over it.
Adam Gilchrist too claimed a dubious catch when the ball had clearly brushed Dravid’s pads. Andrew Symonds didn’t show his honesty on the field and failed to walk off after he got an edge off Ishant Sharma and later realised the honesty clause after the close of play.
