Mahendra Singh Dhoni was clearly frustrated that Ishant Sharma, his 19-year-old fast bowler, had 15 per cent of his match fee recently docked for a heated exchange on the field with Andrew Symonds. Yet, in an interaction with the media on Tuesday, the Indian skipper let slip more than a hint of admiration for the Australians than he may have liked. The fact was, he said, Sharma was provoked into intemperate remarks by the Australians. “It’s an art and they are good at it,” he conceded. “But the Indians will learn soon.” That is half the story. The other half of it came from Harbhajan Singh, who had his own take on Australia’s sustained provocation: “Maybe they realise they no longer are the undisputed champions of the world. Maybe they feel the crown is slipping.”You have to harbour acute distaste for human drama to not appreciate the clash of personalities on this Australian tour. By mid-week, as Harbhajan unwittingly found himself to be the abused party when Matthew Hayden called him “an obnoxious little weed”, the narrative was clear. There is a reason the Indian and Australian boards have not been able to keep the conversation polite and soft between their cricketers. The Australians sense that the Indians are carefully learning their ways. They sense a challenge to their pre-eminence, and India have through the rivalry — in match scores and in loose chatter — made it obvious that Australia is for them the last frontier. This past decade has been Australia’s, and what joy they have given us. In a long supremacy, they showed themselves to be true champions not just in striving to win whatever match came their way. They also honoured themselves as champions in keeping every contest keen and aggressive. So, even if they played minnows like Bangladesh, they kept the spectator interested by never being laid back. Even in dead rubbers, a match was played as if their reputation depended on it. Dhoni’s team not only aspires to that attitude, it’s getting there. That is why it is difficult to remain angry with Hayden.
