When I started following cricket in my childhood, or even before that, when I just knew the game’s existence, the saying “Australia waale toh cheating karte hain” always fascinated me. Well, in the 2000s Australian cricket was a mighty powerhouse in world cricket, and having an unprecedented domination like theirs naturally made people scorn them and be suspicious of them. There were occasional hoaxes like “Ponting ke bat mein spring hai”, but mostly there were good reasons for it. From sledging players rigorously to claiming dropped catches, from bowling underarm to tampering with the ball, it’s hard to keep Aussies and controversies apart.
Even after nearly two decades of following cricket, I feel not much has changed. And it’s not just the players, their media and spectators are equally adept in manipulating the on-field incidents to suit their narratives and take the moral high ground. None of them leave a chance to portray harsh words or gestures, but once the opposition starts “giving it back”, all hells break loose for this bandwagon of ‘holier than thou’.
In the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, one such incident has shifted the focus away from the actual match, the verbal spat between Mohammed Siraj and Travis Head. It seemed like it was done and dusted there until Head said in an interview, “I said ‘well bowled’ but he thought otherwise … when he pointed me to the sheds he got a little bit back from me. If they want to react like that and that’s how they want to represent themselves, then so be it.”
So, we have compiled a list of incidents in recent times, and at the end of reading each point, think this in your ‘head’, “Will the Aussies want to represent themselves like this?”. We know some of these points would make you go, “But that doesn’t seem like a big deal” – which is exactly our reaction to Aussies. They shouldn’t act like it’s a big deal either.
1. Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal
In the Ashes series last year, the perpetual debate between the ‘laws of the game’ and the ‘spirit of the game’ again came into the limelight at the very spot where the laws of cricket are written. At the Lord’s Test, when Jonny Bairstow left a ball and started walking towards the middle of the pitch, wicket-keeper Alex Carey threw the ball at the stumps and claimed the wicket. Bairstow was clueless as he had thought the ball was dead, as he was not going for any unfair advantage. However, he was eventually given out to the utter dismay of the crowd and cricket lovers worldwide, with this incident being called a sheer disgrace.
However, the Australians stood their ground saying, “They write the rules, not us”.
2. Mohammed Siraj vs Travis Head
We have all seen the clip, and we know Travis Head was not saying ‘well bowled’. The interesting thing is, if you see the highlights by the Australian media, they just keep on playing the replays of Siraj’s reaction, not showing much of Head’s. Head even came out to criticize Siraj and, “If that’s how they want to represent themselves, then so be it.” Aussies making a big deal when someone behaves the same way they do is nothing new, but maybe don’t spit blatant lies?
3. Spectators asked to leave
The Australian crowd is one of the most hostile ones in the world. During the 2021/22 series, a group of spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground hurled racially abusive words at Mohammed Siraj. It went on for two days after which Siraj complained to captain Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane took this to the umpires who offered the Indians to leave, but Rahane insisted the culprits be expelled and six spectators were expelled.
4. Suryakumar Yadav catch
“Long off, long off, long off…Surya Kumar Yadav.”- These lines will forever be etched in our memories as this catch was the point where probably Surya saved us the World Cup. However, many Australian media outlets wrote about how the boundary ropes were pushed behind and questioned the legitimacy of the catch. This needless claim infuriated many cricket legends, even Sunil Gavaskar who said, “He may be interested to see the video floating around of the 10 most blatant cheating acts done by the Aussies before trying to point the finger at SKY.”
5. Tim Paine scandal and exclusion
The highly successful Pat Cummins era of Australia started because of a scandal. Former captain Tim Paine stepped down as Test captain and took a break from the sport in November 2021 after explicit messages he sent to Ferguson years earlier became public.
6. Social media mocking
Generally, social media of teams of equal stature and capabilities don’t take digs at each other. However, Cricket Australia took to social media to post a reel with the caption ‘Is All Out 46’ the new ‘All Out 36?’ after Indian batting collapsed miserably against New Zealand. It was a callback to India getting dismissed for 36 at Australia several years back. But the comments section soon got filled with “Surely, they must have won the series after that” by Indians reminding Australia of their loss in that series.
So, at the top of your lungs, with me, “Will the Aussies want to represent themselves like this?”.
