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Matthew Hayden’s characterisation of serial racist Harbhajan Singh as an “obnoxious weed” has clarified once and for all the real difference between the Australian and Indian cricketing teams.

Both sides are guilty of indulging in sledging. Of that there is no doubt. It’s something that probably shouldn’t be in the game, but for whatever reason it seems to have become standard practice for sides all round the world. Whether the Indians or the Australians are more offensive when they do it is probably not something you could gauge, without secretly recording them throughout a game.

If you simply make everyone wear a microphone, very little will be said of any consequence.

But where does the real difference between the sides come in, then?

When an Indian cricketer is accused of making a vile, racist, taunt, in full hearing of a number of players, he can expect the full support of his cricketing association in fighting the charge. This support can include lawyers and even threatening to withdraw from any further matches involving the victim’s team.

When an Australian cricketer gives a frank, honest, but scathing review of an Indian player’s character, he is immediately required to front up to a hearing with his association and may face fines and/or a suspension.

This is on top of behaviour like Ishant Sharma’s abuse of Andrew Symonds, wicketkeeper MS Dhoni’s use of illegal gloves and the constant refusal of certain Indian players to walk when given out throughout the recent Test series and in some of the One Day matches this summer.

India love to make a big deal about playing “in the spirit of the game”. I fear the day when everyone plays the game in the same “spirit” India has shown us.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Politics, sport.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.