Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has blasted Ricky Ponting for trying to tarnish Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar's image.
By Faisal Kamal
It's becoming a season of mudslinging. Throwing filth at each other seems to be the norm as a clutch of autobiographies, biographies and diaries hit the book shelves every day. And former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram is not amused at the latest controversy w
here Ricky Ponting takes on Sunny Gavaskar.
Oh God, what is the Lord's game coming to? Have the game's "gentlemen" cricketers lost their sanity or is it just smart and insensitive ploys to sell some more copies of a book, wonders Akram. Reacting to Ponting's outcry that "Sunil Gavaskar was no saint during his playing days," the Pakistani legend is appalled that the Aussie captain has chosen a man whose international stature is virtually unblemished.
Talking to Mobile ESPN, Akram says, "A player of Ricky Ponting's stature should not bad mouth a legend like Sunil Gavaskar. I don't know why Ponting is saying all these things, but one thing is for sure that Sunny speaks his mind. He is a neutral guy and he is amazingly great."
Gavaskar was scathing in his comments during the controversial Sydney Test in January when India were at the receiving end of some horrible umpiring decisions from Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson. Gavaskar slammed Ponting's bullying tactics as the Aussies hunted like a pack of dogs in a bitterly fought contest.
Ponting has dug into history to hit back at Gavaskar. He says in his book, the Captain's Diary, "I still have a vivid image of Sunil Gavaskar angrily trying to take his opening partner off the MCG with him in 1981 when he was given out LBW in a Test match, but to hear him today you'd think he was positively angelic when he was the best opening batsman in the world."
Akran feels Ponting has hit Sunny below the belt but that will barely matter to cricket lovers in the sub-continent. "Sunny is also one of the players from India who is loved in Pakistan. He is respected the world over and Ponting's comments won't affect his sunny image."
Akram doubts whether mudslinging will stop at all. It's an age of gamesmanship and cricketers (and their managers) will not shy away from taking that extra step to market themselves and make some more money.
"This is part and parcel of top sports. Cricket has so much media attention, that even during an informal chat the media can extract a quote and suit themselves," says Akram, adding: "These things have happened before and will continue and I don't think that these petty things will affect cricket."
