The Gentleman's Game?

First, Afridi said that Muslims and Pakistanis were largehearted and that was their attitude towards Indians when they played cricket in Pakistan, but Indians didn't not welcome Pakistani players with the same attitude.

Yuvraj Singh retaliated, cheekily commenting that the largehearted attitude of Afridi's players reflected in the catches they dropped (Tendulkar - 4 times) in the Indo-Pak World Cup semifinal.

Harbhajan contributed his bit to the slanging match, saying that if Indians didn't have a great attitude, they wouldn't have progressed this far in cricket.

While I will ignore Afridi's comments about Pakistanis, he was right when he said spoke against the alleged warning to the players, to not indulge in match fixing, by the Interior Minister Malik and Gautam Gambhir's unnecessary comment that he'd dedicate World Cup victory to the victims of 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. It was alleged that they were planned by Paki militants but Gambhir dumbly let loose his tongue in the midst of the hype over the India-Pakistan match..

None of this would've made the newspapers if cricketers hadn't come forth to put forth their opinions. Like the Centrefresh Viral WC ad said "The game is more important than the cup. Just shut up!" It's a Gentleman's game, folks. Be gentlemen.

Like Dhoni proved in his calm conduct and quiet tolerance of the hype preceding the India-Pakistan match.

Dear cricketers, we'll always love and support you, but please live up to the name of cricket.



No comments: