I read this first on the Fox Sports site
IF Andrew Symonds wasn't such a gentle fellow, India's Shanthakumaran Sreesanth's nose would probably be plastered all over his leering face.
The Hindu and occasionally Christian bowler can thank all his gods that the secular Queenslander is a man of peace and tranquility.
which pretty much says everything that had to be said about the credibility of the article.
Then the Sydney Morning Herald picked on the story
Sources within the Australian team say the Indian squad member made several aggressive gestures towards the visiting batsmen during their unsuccessful run chase, most of which were ignored.
But Sreesanth's attempt to goad Symonds after his late-innings dismissal - apparently by clapping in the Australian's face, followed by a few choice words - sparked a heated confrontation, with Clark moving in to separate the warring factions. Sreesanth denied clapping in Symonds's face or goading him. He admitted he said, "Hard luck, you're going to lose" to Symonds.
Sources within the Australian team talking to an Australian journalist about their pet peeve - taken with a ladleful of salt
None of the Indian media outlets have reported on this "incident" thus far. Cricinfo had George Binoy on the ground and Anand Vasu and Sriram Veera doing the ball by ball commentary. Nothing about this "incident" has been mentioned in the ball by ball commentary or the post match reports.
Imagine my surprise then, as unnamed "Cricinfo staff" deem it a story worthy of the main page of their web site...
S Sreesanth, India's fast bowler, has denied clapping in the face of Andrew Symonds after he was dismissed in the fourth one-day match on Monday. Sreesanth, a 12th man in Chandigarh, reportedly had to be calmed down by Stuart Clark, who was also running the drinks, when Symonds was approached between the field and the entry to the dressing room.
Sreesanth has had an eventful series after targeting the Australians with his strange behaviour and he apparently continued to argue with Symonds and his team-mates after the eight-run loss. Despite not playing, Sreesanth went to Symonds as he walked off with 75 and observers said he clapped in the batsman's face.
Strange behavior indeed!!
24 comments:
Don't know how true that is. If true, Sree has an insecure hysterical personality.
If not, then I think India should leave this peaty roost of mindgames to the Ozzies. I think India has been nifty and have already flown off this perch to pick at another flank.
And I really love that Fox Sports/News channels...they are a bunch of bigots afflicted with a disease that usually downs cattle. Ask half the population in US (read Democrats). You are there and you should know that's what one expects from Fox's.
oh yeah symonds is "secular Queenslander is a man of peace and tranquility" who also speaks of taking wife and mom to bed to a player... pls do just dont be sooo gud to him da...
have a gr8 day..
I really wonder if the Indians are deliberately trying to rile Symonds in this series. If so, I don't think it is necessarily a bad idea. I think that Symonds may be a little suspect in terms of temperament, and getting under his skin could be a good way to get him to do something stupid (and get out).
This same Fox sports or faux news you may call it, had also reported that as the Aussie team was leaving for the hotel after the match at Hyderabad, their bus was attacked and a huge rock or boulder was thrown at the bus which crashed the window glasses.
I was surprised to read this news as none of the media sources had mentioned anything of this sort--not even electronic media which would have pounced at such a sensational news.
So it is exactly the same as the English media which has reported that someone shot Flintoff in India and the bullet just missed him!!
These media sources are even worse than the Indian ones!!
soulberry,
that is precisely the reason why I was skeptical of the story. But then, Cricinfo deems this story worthy of being on their homepage and then the question becomes - how come no one else but a handful of Aussie journalists and unnamed "Cricinfo staff" become privy to an "incident" and that there is no corroboration whatsoever from anyone else!
Cheers
Hitechzone,
Thanks much for your comments.. The secular Queenslander bit is all Peter Lalor... :)
Cheers
Stuart,
Thanks much for your comments.
Symonds has not helped his cause by starting the war of words in the first place. And just when everything seemed to be piping down, he goes and has a chat with Sachin.
So, deliberate or not, he has positioned himself as Public Enemy No 1 in Indian eyes.
Cheers
Chandan,
The Australian media has a reputation for being one eyed and thats a fact of life.
What is galling is that Cricinfo deems this to be newsworthy and editorializes the "incident". Just check the snide remarks on SS's "strange behavior".
And they wont even attribute this story to one of their staff..
Which brings to question their credibility!
Cheers
I doubt even cricinfo's credibility now, ever since they spread that false rumour about Sachin's retirement from ODIs at Lords last month!
Chandan,
Here is the link
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/309706.html
Funny how all of these stories seem to come from unnamed "Cricinfo staff" :)
Cheers
Look at the headline and attribution in this piece:
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/indvaus/content/current/story/314909.html
I'm sad to say this but CI has clearly bought into the hype. (well, I'm not that sad, I've always known it about CI).
And notice, that Ponting is still complaining to the press i.e., being a whinger.
Samir,
I was not aware that CI has outsourced all the articles for this series to news.com.au :)
As far as Ponting goes, he is doing everything possible not to land an endorsement deal in India.. Unless he is auditioning for villain for the movie Sreesanth will be starring in :)
Cheers
hahahaha homer so funny ! :)
btw we lost....:|
Well faux sports is fighting a battle for the tabloid frontier...today they go on to accuse Vadodra spectators of having hurled racial insults at Symo!
I'm trying to figure out what those racial insults could be! I really am trying to figure out what they could have said...unless it had something to do with the lipstick he applies. That could give someone ammo to to comment.
I'm sure the Ozzie crowds are like church mice in all their grounds and their press too, when teams com a-visiting.
Faux Sports is a joke and a Murdoch tool. Cricinfo too has passed into his hands via ESPN. He owns ESPN-Star as well. So can't expect anything but yellow coloured journalism from them.
Soulberry,
There is no pleasing some people. And with every passing day, Australia seems to resemble that grouchy old man who finds fault with anything and everything.
I will be more than glad when this series is over - the Australians are becoming the most unwelcome of guests.
Cheers
Jane,
We were outplayed, no issues with that...Its the carping on the sidelines that is grating.
Cheers
stuart, the time to rile the aussies is when they're batting. what's the point of it after the bloke's out? the indians have to learn how to sledge for wickets without getting into the ref's bad books - of course with the match ref being another highlander, the odds are stacked.
I'd be glad if the Indian team gets the cobwebs of T20 out of their heads very soon and are prepared to sweat it out in the middle over 50 overs.
Here, I might actually stand beside Vengsarkar (bit tricky that) and support his call for greater accountability. After all he is the selector and his "credibility" is on the line. Lalchand Rajput has little to lose if India does poorly and plenty to gain otherwise.
It is sad to see Dravid so out of focus. Why select players like Badri and Rohit then? Ideally, Rahul should have been given a break after the England tour and his subsequent abdication, to come back refreshed for test matches later.
One player will not make a difference but one player with something to prove, like a newbie, could provide the spark.
And Mr. Rajput doesn't need to mollycoddle these players...they've had the carrot and now it's time for some orthodox methods to get them to shape up.
The match was so one-dimensional that it is even impossible to draw any useful conclusions from it.
Soulberry,
Why the Twenty20 bogey? Why should we apologize for winning the Twenty20 World Cup fair and square? And having won it, why should we apologize for the celebration that followed?
India did not show up for today's game. Whether they were done in because they misread the wicket or because they were pumped because it was Sachin's 400th or because the travel and subsequent exhaustion finally got to them, we will never know.
Well done Australia for bouncing back the way they did but that can still not take away the Twenty20 Championships from us
Cheers
Hi Sumit,
The fact that the Indians are having a go at Symonds even after he gets out indicated to me that it is part of a planned approach to get under his skin. The problem is that you can sometimes get caught up in the sledging contest and lose focus on the fact that you need to perform with bat and ball.
Symonds erred when he questioned the way Indians celebrated. Its none of his business to do it.
Then what Indians did was aghastly wrong. Harbhajan complains of vulgar words, as if he is preety naive in using that.
Then Dhoni runs to the umps complaining the words Aussies use. If he s got to do well and lead well, he s got to take this in stride. and if he becomes test skipper too, then he shud be prepared for more of it in aussie backyard.
And not to mention the joker of the pack, sreesanth. some one really got to give him a pyschatrist treatment for the way he has been behaving and taking aggression to mimicisms and theaterics.
Aussies aint angels and when they complain of racism in Vadodara match, they look foolish. World knows about how racist and good Aussie crowds are. dont we ?
How can monkey chants be called racist abuses? I'm at a loss here. Please, can someone explain what a racial abuse can be and how was this a 'racial' abuse?
I'm serious here. Please explain, someone.
Chandan,
I am as bemused as you are.
Seriously, can someone explain?
To add fuel to fire, I think it must be monkeys who should be claiming racial abuse.
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