Too much ado about the Pawar push
Did Damien Martyn push/shove BCCI president Sharad Pawar? Is the Indian media (and subsequently politicians, ex-cricketers and the public) justified in raising hue and cry over the incident? Does this require a formal probe by Cricket Australia so that the “guilty” can be “brought to justice” or even an apology?
Of course not!!
What Damien Martyn did was just a reaction of a jubilant player eager to lay his hands on a trophy that had eluded his team up until that moment. He simply seemed to usher Sharad Pawar to one side so he could join his teammates in holding the Champions Trophy aloft. There was nothing insulting in that gesture or at least there was nothing in the pictures that made me project nefarious intentions onto Martyn’s actions. So the media hue and cry is nothing but a tactic to fill up airtime. As far as the politicians are concerned, I don’t blame them for using this “incident” to display their nationalistic fervour. But I am surprised and concerned that players including the normally reticent Tendulkar have chosen to comment on this as though the Australian team has committed a grave crime! It just goes to fortify the thought that there is a definite Asian-nonAsian divide emerging in world cricket. And that’s really unfortunate!
Having said that, I must confess that Ricky Ponting’s gesture, asking Pawar to hand over the trophy, was quite rude and cannot be put down to enthusiasm or over-exuberance of victory. Of course, I don’t demand a probe or an apology for it. I reckon it’s a cultural thing and no amount of disciplining and/or apologies is gonna change it in a hurry! The only thing worth doing is to dish it out to the Aussies in the same coin… on the field!!
7 comments
:-) much ado about nothing eh sameer?
on a side note - its really encouraging to see folks like you stick on the blog-wagon with such fervent enthusiam over what seems like eons.
Do not agree with your comments. You cannot push people from the stage just because you are very jubilient about winning a trophy.
In a tit for tat situation is it ok to push the queen of after you have won Wimbledon trophy.
Sachin>> You are quite right. Pushing someone is always bad, be it Sharad Pawar or the Queen or just a regular Joe. But have you actually seen the footage of that Damien Martyn incident? If you have, then I’m surprised that you interpreted Damien Martyn’s touch (and it was only a touch) as a push or a shove.
Harris>> Good to see you here! How have you been? :-)
Yeah, it does seem surprising that I’ve stayed on blogging for such a long time now!!
Agree about the gesture for asking the Cup being rude and the shove being ‘enthusiastic’ rather than insulting…
One big problem while seeing such an event on a 24*7 news channnel is that they repeat the same still ssssooo many times…it just makes the impact deeper [repetitive effect, you see :-B]
as far as Sachin’s comment - he was too early to open his mouth, he said he hadnt seen the footage, in that case he’s better stay dumb than give any kind of reaction :-?
I am sure Sachin somewhere would have regretted speaking on this incident…
Amrita>> You’re absolutely right. The news channels seem to work on the principle that if a half-truth is repeated over and over again enough number of times, people will accept it as the full truth! And of course, keeping the news going on and on does help in earning lots through pointless smses that people send to these channels in the hope of seeing their name on the screen!
And yes, Sachin was a tad early in jumping the gun on this issue! But then he may have commented that if this incident was true, then it was an unfortunate one. And the reporters could have merrily ‘mis’quoted him! ;-)
well said big man sachin is full of shit.. damo’s “push” was nothing more than a gentel persuation for the old fella.. .its not even an issue.. get the fuck over it!
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