By Sreelata S. Yellamrazu
The headline is not misleading. If one were to merely sit back and watch all that is currently happening in the cricket world, apart from the minnows actually being given the boot after the welcome garland from the ICC, it has been Ricky Ponting and his famous, or should we say infamous, TV-smashing, headline-grabbing incident in a match that should have been remembered for Ponting’s World Cup record breaking feat of forty World Cup match appearances, that has stirred the pot of hype, frenzy and controversy. ( Finally somebody is asking: who were Australia playing against?)
How else can one describe that the first real serious discussion on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 that got underway on Sunday was not about Virender Sehwag running out the golden boy of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, or the ICC running out the minnows out of the game even before they could take strike but rather how a spectacular moment of brilliance from Zimbabwe’s Chris Mpofu turned Ponting into a man of extreme fury, enough to lose all sense momentarily to allow his flung bat to smash right into a television set in the dressing room.
Such has been the Australian captain’s time under the sun lately that it would seem nothing Ponting does can be for the good, for himself or for the Australian team. Sometimes it skips everyone that every man is entitled to his share of despair, frustration and agony. While it cannot be condoned that someone of his stature should be setting an example of disturbing furniture, if cricket is about the human element, then Ponting’s reaction is also a reflection of what this game can mean, even for the best in the game.
The LCD TV smashing incident may be one that requires appropriate action. But if one looks in the context of things, then it may be fairly understood that not only did the run out frustrate Ponting because he needs to keep the flow of runs going but also, it is because he has not been able to control the events that have sometimes undermined his captaincy through no fault of his own. If one were to elaborate on that, it would be fair to reiterate the kind of changes that the Australian cricket squad witnessed in the course of the Ashes, with Ponting having to make do and make adjustments, knowing that he had been reduced to a puppet in the hands of the Australian selectors who are perhaps the only people who can make Ponting look better under the circumstances.
Ponting has been absorbing the epitaphs written about him. Indeed his reign as the Australian captain may be over even without the heir asserting his rights. What cannot be denied though is that Ponting the batsman still has a few ambitions, and one of t hose includes catching up with Tendulkar. And that is not possible while Tendulkar is still running and Ponting gets run out. Get the point now to explain Ponting’s behavior? It may only be one bat and one TV, but then what do they say about a picture speaking a thousand words? (No one has said anything about a picture tube yet.)
The headline is not misleading. If one were to merely sit back and watch all that is currently happening in the cricket world, apart from the minnows actually being given the boot after the welcome garland from the ICC, it has been Ricky Ponting and his famous, or should we say infamous, TV-smashing, headline-grabbing incident in a match that should have been remembered for Ponting’s World Cup record breaking feat of forty World Cup match appearances, that has stirred the pot of hype, frenzy and controversy. ( Finally somebody is asking: who were Australia playing against?)
How else can one describe that the first real serious discussion on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 that got underway on Sunday was not about Virender Sehwag running out the golden boy of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, or the ICC running out the minnows out of the game even before they could take strike but rather how a spectacular moment of brilliance from Zimbabwe’s Chris Mpofu turned Ponting into a man of extreme fury, enough to lose all sense momentarily to allow his flung bat to smash right into a television set in the dressing room.
Such has been the Australian captain’s time under the sun lately that it would seem nothing Ponting does can be for the good, for himself or for the Australian team. Sometimes it skips everyone that every man is entitled to his share of despair, frustration and agony. While it cannot be condoned that someone of his stature should be setting an example of disturbing furniture, if cricket is about the human element, then Ponting’s reaction is also a reflection of what this game can mean, even for the best in the game.
The LCD TV smashing incident may be one that requires appropriate action. But if one looks in the context of things, then it may be fairly understood that not only did the run out frustrate Ponting because he needs to keep the flow of runs going but also, it is because he has not been able to control the events that have sometimes undermined his captaincy through no fault of his own. If one were to elaborate on that, it would be fair to reiterate the kind of changes that the Australian cricket squad witnessed in the course of the Ashes, with Ponting having to make do and make adjustments, knowing that he had been reduced to a puppet in the hands of the Australian selectors who are perhaps the only people who can make Ponting look better under the circumstances.
Ponting has been absorbing the epitaphs written about him. Indeed his reign as the Australian captain may be over even without the heir asserting his rights. What cannot be denied though is that Ponting the batsman still has a few ambitions, and one of t hose includes catching up with Tendulkar. And that is not possible while Tendulkar is still running and Ponting gets run out. Get the point now to explain Ponting’s behavior? It may only be one bat and one TV, but then what do they say about a picture speaking a thousand words? (No one has said anything about a picture tube yet.)
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