26 February,2011 06:54 AM IST | | Ayaz Memon
Unlike what happened in Ahmedabad a few days back after he was run out, no untoward incident was reported from the Australian dressing room when Ricky Ponting returned back from the middle, this time stumped for 12. All fixtures are intact, including the hapless television.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting reacts after being struck on his injured
finger off a shot by Nathan McCullum of New New Zealand during their
World Cup Group A match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in
Nagpur yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Whether Ponting is chastened after the reprimand he has copped from the ICC or overjoyed at his team's success in beating New Zealand is unknown, but it is interesting to understand why his reaction should have been so dramatically different in his two dismissals.
So why do players smash things up in dressing rooms etc? Unless they are vagabonds camouflaged as cricketers, or suffering from some huge psychological problem, it usually has to do with frustration and anger arising out of a mishap in which they believed they were reduced to helplessness.
In the Delhi Test of the 1983 series between India and the West Indies, old-timers will recall, Viv Richards had gone on a demolition binge in the Kotla dressing room after what he believed was an atrocious umpiring decision.
Hansie's stump for ump
Closer to our times, Hansie Cronje once stuck a stump in an Australian umpire's dressing room door as protest against what he thought was bias against his team on the field. The history of cricket is littered with quite a few such instances.
One can, however, get too sanctimonious about sportspersons letting off steam. Passion and intensity drive sportspersons to excellence, and when they are stymied for some reason in this pursuit, there can be the unsavoury fall-out. To expect a sportsperson to maintain equanimity victory and defeat, success and failure is asking for the impossible. Moreover, it would also rob sport of the drama, pathos and everything else that makes it such a wonderful spectacle. But yes, there must be limits.
While what Ponting has done is not new, as one of the senior-most pros on the circuit he should be looking to play elder statesman, not a misanthrope. This is not the 'role model' stuff that the game's minders would like him to perform.
That said, Ponting's expression of anger at Ahmedabad reveals the levels of anxiety that plague him (and by extension his team) in this World Cup. He's had a rough time in the last couple of years, including losing the Ashes on home soil this summer, which must still rile him.
Winning the World Cup would be redemption not just from unceasing criticism, but also perhaps save his neck, because the Australian administration is unlikely to persist with him if he flops here too. That is obviously preying hard on the Australian captain's mind.
Aus on tenterhooks
Despite being defending champions and having won an ODI series 6-1 just before coming here, Australia, as exemplified by Ponting's misplaced anger, appear to be on tenterhooks. The emphatic victory over New Zealand should alleviate some of the tension, but some more hard core aggro from them is not entirely unexpected.
Australia look like they want the other teams to still believe what they have begun to doubt themselves; that they are the best side in the business. For that, I believe Ponting has the most important role to play -- as batsman and captain. By the end of this tournament we should know whether he has been a smash-hit in the way it really matters.
