Gentleman's game?
In the spirit of the game, Ithought it maybe useful to revisit the theme of sportsmanship and player demeanor. As most if not everybody may have noticed, Saurav Ganguly missed a ball in the earlier overs of the game and claimed to have hit it by gesturing to the umpire with his bat. Let us for a moment ignore the possibility that the umpires in today's India-Pakistan game were incompetent. Then how weak must a player's moral character be to try and pull what Ganguly did? there is just no excuse, it is downright shameful and to be honest, a little pathetic.
let's not forget the altercation between Afridi and Ghambir... while sledging may be a part of cricket, historically speaking, there is no justification for the exchange of words and grand standing that took place between them. I happened to catch the game on zee sports and was quite disappointed to see that the lunch break analysis of the first half consisted of the Indian analysts condoning the exchange by justifying Ghambir's 'response' to Afridi.
Getting back to the game now... I thought it was pretty much lost when the game began. the team never looked like it had the confidence to take control of the game. Akmal was as usually abysmal and butt's dropped catch didn't help. fielding was wayward and it never seemed like the team was trying to put its back into it. Shoaid Akhtar was unsurprisingly average in his efforts and looked to be under pressure towards the end. The only performance worth praising was Sohail Tanvir, who is line and length in bowling is something that all Pakistani bowlers should be aspiring to.
India on the other hand, played the game superbly. With the exception of Ganguly, who looked like he was struggling, each member played his role to near perfection... job well done India.
let's not forget the altercation between Afridi and Ghambir... while sledging may be a part of cricket, historically speaking, there is no justification for the exchange of words and grand standing that took place between them. I happened to catch the game on zee sports and was quite disappointed to see that the lunch break analysis of the first half consisted of the Indian analysts condoning the exchange by justifying Ghambir's 'response' to Afridi.
Getting back to the game now... I thought it was pretty much lost when the game began. the team never looked like it had the confidence to take control of the game. Akmal was as usually abysmal and butt's dropped catch didn't help. fielding was wayward and it never seemed like the team was trying to put its back into it. Shoaid Akhtar was unsurprisingly average in his efforts and looked to be under pressure towards the end. The only performance worth praising was Sohail Tanvir, who is line and length in bowling is something that all Pakistani bowlers should be aspiring to.
India on the other hand, played the game superbly. With the exception of Ganguly, who looked like he was struggling, each member played his role to near perfection... job well done India.
i think the altercation between Afridi & Gambhir was definitely not in the spirit of the game...Afridi was right to maintain his follow throw and Gambhir being the batsman had to move out of the way, but Afridi leaned in with his right shoulder, which is not on!
The face to face confrontation for me was not as bad as that can be the players just getting emotional...as long as coolness prevails in the end