The Hindu : Sport : Only one team played in the spirit of the game: Kumble

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 07, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport

Only one team played in the spirit of the game: Kumble

Special Correspondent

Sydney: In times of despair is character revealed, and Anil Kumble, the Indian cricket captain, was magnificent on Sunday evening after an emotionally fraught Test match.

Only in his terse words to the final question of the post-match press conference did he betray a sense of being slighted by Australia’s attitude during the second Test.

Asked if he thought the match had been played in the right spirit, Kumble said, “Only one team was playing in the spirit of the game.” It was reminiscent of Australian captain Bill Woodfull’s words during the Bodyline series.

The context was drawn from the several instances of Australian batsmen standing their ground when obviously out and the fielders insisting on their appeals being satisfied when there was far too much doubt to be certain.

This isn’t singular — indeed, every team has been guilty of it at some stage. But, when the Australian cricketers maintain that they play the game “hard and fair,” it rings hollow.

“I can understand if you nick the ball and wait for the decision,” said Kumble, asked about the incident involving Michael Clarke in the Australian second innings, “but if you edge it to slip and wait, it says it all.

“We like to play hard in the field. I’ve always played my cricket sincerely and honestly, and that’s the approach my team takes. And that’s what we expect from the Australians. Sometimes, it happens in the heat of the moment. I can only talk on my and we are doubly focused to play hard cricket,” he added.

Review agreement

Kumble said he would review the captains’ agreement with Ponting regarding taking the word of the catcher in contentious decisions, in the light of Clarke saying he had caught Sourav Ganguly.

Kumble said “a draw was a fair result,” and that it had been tough “to end up on the losing side like this.”

He refused to comment on the umpiring, saying “you all saw what happened.”

A concern

He admitted that not being able to bat out 72 overs was a concern to be addressed in the practice match at Canberra.

“We could have shown a bit more fight and saved the game,” said Kumble. “But, if we keep playing the kind of cricket we did through the Test, we will start getting the right results.”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport