India Vs Australia 2007- On and Off the field attitude

Many a times the Australian cricket team has been accused of On field hostile attitude. Cricketing greats have criticized them of not playing according to the spirit of the game. With on field gestures, it is almost impossible to recognize the game originally known as a "gentleman's sport". When the Australians entered stadiums all around the West Indies during this years ODi world cup, they were boo'ed every time. The reason behind this hostile attitude from the crowd, apart from the fact that they're virtually impossible to beat in this form of the game, was the on field antics of the Australian team. They've been labeled as cricketers who "hunt like a pack of dogs". The current Australian captain and cricket legend, Ricky Ponting has supported such actions, saying that his team takes all possible steps needed to win the game. So, I believe that the lack of crowd support in the ICC World Cup 2007 was justified, as you'll find very few neutral game lovers who would want to support such a team.
In the recent T20 cricket world cup held in South Africa commentators, who're paid to be neutral, were heard giving remarks like, "i don't care who ever wins, so far as its not Australia". And it was not just the commentators, this was the general opinion all around. Here I'd like to comment that this opinion was not shared solely because of Australian dominance on the cricket field. When Pile (football legend) led his team on the field, the level of brilliance achieved by his team made football lovers all over the world die hard Brazilian fans. When tiger woods comes out to play golf, he isn't ill-treated by the crowd, even though he's been dominant on the grass for so long. The same is the case with Roger federer on tennis courts and was the case with Michael Schumacher on the F1 circuit. It is the On field antics of the Australian cricket team that have led to wide spread hatred for them among cricket lovers.
Coming to the title of this blog, the Indian home series against Australia. Just a gentle bit of a reminder, Australia currently lead the series 4-1. Cricket series in India are action-packed events, as cricket is the most widely practiced religion in India. A match in the Eden Gardens, can go horribly wrong for the authorities and the police, if India starts to loose. But this time round, the series has been made even more interesting, not by the crowd, but by the Indian team! Unfortunately, like the results point out, I'm not referring to their performance with the bat or the ball, but with their not-so-civil gestures. It seems that a few in the Indian team believe, that if they compete with Australians in sledging, their game will come at par with the four time world champions. Shantakumaran Sreesanth tops the list of players most vocal on the cricket field. And what is sad news for the game is that rude comments have also been passed around in the team hotel.
There has been wide spread anger over the actions of Sreesanth, who other then celebrating jubilantly at the fall of the a wicket, likes to pass in a comment or two as well. Even Indian supporters do not support Sreesanth's uncontrolled temper. Andrew Symonds has said today in his blog in a news paper, "that the Indians had become "cocky" after their win in the Twenty20 World Cup" and "The thing that annoys us the most is when they are going well, they will have a shot at you. But when they aren't going well they forget to shake hands at the end of the game."
Such behavior from the Indian team almost nearly justifies the Australian teams on field attitude. After all, they are the winners of the previous three world cups! If one T20 world cup with can make the Indian players "cocky", Australian cricketers have a lot to boast about.
In the end I'd like to that that the only thing that suffers from such attitude is the game, and nothing but the game. It draws a negative impact on the Cricketing world from outside spheres.