Who needs the huge hulks of bullying looks in a gentleman’s game!!

Never in the history of cricket, now fighting a desperate battle to retain its reputation as a gentleman's game, have players made so much money in so short a span of time.

But even before the show has reached the halfway stage it has been indelibly scarred by a number of incidents it could have done without.

The day Harbhajan Singh is alleged to have thwacked S Sreesanth will be remembered as a day when Indian cricket itself received a stinging slap on its face, a misdemeanour that promptly earned him an 11-match suspension from the IPL commissioner costing him Rs.30 million, with more punishment likely when the cricket board is through with its own inquiry. It is the same board which, blinded by jingoism, threw its weight behind the off-spinner from Jalandhar on the Australian tour marred by charges of racial abuse, swear words like "teri ma ki..." and boorish remarks like "obnoxious little weed," and threatened to fly the Indian team home should any action be taken against the man.

"Layman would blame it all on poor breeding
and parental indulgence, or as they would say in Harbhajan's
Jalandhar, 'phir ki hoya' (it doesn't matter)"

But what is it that leads the Harbhajans of cricket to repeated violations of the game's code, the latest slapping episode leaving the man appointed by the board 'shocked' by the video footage? Psychologists would call it poor impulse control. But the layman would blame it all on poor breeding and parental indulgence, or as they would nonchalantly say in Harbhajan's Jalandhar, 'phir ki hoya' (it doesn't matter). Parents, doting on their children's special talents, forget there are other, equally important, aspects that need attention like civil behaviour.

We've not known, say, a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid guilty of uncivil behaviour, although they too must have faced stresses and strains and provocations in their long careers as cricketers. All those who applauded when Harbhajan made brash statements to the effect that he would give it back if anyone sledged must be wondering if they did the right thing. What if Harbhajan had thumped a white or black cricketer and not Sreesanth? Maybe again many of us would have allowed jingoism to get the better of out better judgment.

"We've not known Sachin or Dhoni guilty
of uncivil behaviour, although they too must have faced
stresses and provocations in their long careers as cricketers"

Even lesser infractions like Ishant Sharma kicking the stumps or Sourav Ganguly showing dissent, both being fined 10 percent of their match fees, are ugly marks on the IPL. One should be worried more about young Ishant, a fast bowler still in his teens. The aggro attributed to fast bowlers, far from being applauded, should be strongly disapproved. Gestures like pointing to the dressing room after dismissing a batsman and angry appealing constitute rude behaviour.

Boys like Ishant subconsciously acquire such traits from the seniors they have been watching in an impressionable age. Gentle giants can bowl just as fast and effectively as huge hulks of bullying looks who dramatise their feelings for effect.