The Indian Aussie!

Cricket nowadays, is played less by players and probably more by characters. One interesting character in the Indian team is Santhakumaran Sreesanth. His first name should translate to "peaceful boy" but he seems to be quite otherwise, for on the field, he does everything but fast bowling.

Every bowler ideally has a run-up, delivery and follow-through. For Sreesanth, one could call it dance, delivery and blabber through. A commentator hyped him up, saying "there is killer instinct in this kid". Bullshit. Can't the commentator distinguish aggression and juvenile delinquency? All through the run up, I feel he thinks of phrases to be used against batsmen. Naturally, most of his deliveries are smashed around the park. His body is held on ground firmly by the weight of the charms that he sports around his neck. He probably would find it tough to clear the customs at airports. On the hottest of days, he wears about three layers of clothing, with a colorful wrist band and smears his face with white cream thinking he could prevent batsmen from sighting the white ball. After the ball is bowled, our hero runs up to the batsman, abuses him and looks at the leg umpire to save himself from being given a warning. The walk back to his mark is the funniest part of his game. He adjusts the sleeves of his T- shirt umpteen number of times and in the last few steps, compresses air against the ground, pumps his right fist twice and scratches his temples with two fingers of his left hand. He is now ready to dance er... bowl the next ball. FOUR again!!!!

If matches could be won by no talent and only sledging, every team could be given a course on it rather than having people to play before selecting them. Hats off to Sreesanth's energy and enthusiasm, but at some point of time, the game deserves respect and the spirit should be upheld. I believe there is no point in abusing someone on the field and asking him to take it in the right spirit off the field. Sledging should be as healthy as the sport is and it is high time people realize how sport should be played.