Monkey money

Shortly before I was born my father narrated a story to my elder brother and sister about how a ‘Monkey’ King by the name of Hanuman helped king Rama find his abducted wife Sita from the hands of king Ravana of Lanka. Thereafter Hanuman became an idolised ‘god’ in the Indian mythology. So much so even at present monkeys are held in awe in India. So may be if an Indian calls some one a monkey it comes with all but due respect for that person. “Sir you are held in awe”.

Ironically in the West and pieces of land who still are tied to it, the monkey is just a monkey and if some one draws a similarity between a person and the beast it may be taken derogatively.

The present war is taking place between India and a country that will engage themselves in any ‘monkey trick’ as long as they end up on the winning side.

This is not the first instance that the Australians have ‘jibed’ opponents into sorry states so that they under perform during the series and Sri Lanka too have had their fair share of it when playing down under. On the boxing day of 1995 Darrel ruffled his ‘Hair’ while no balling Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. It also happened once again a few years later in 1999 on the same soil when umpire Ross Emerson ‘aped’ Darrel Hair in no-balling Muralitharan, but this time it blew out of proportion when the then Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunge took the bold decision to confront the umpire and almost take the players off the field. That ‘paid put’ to the direct confrontation attitude of the Australians but, ‘monkey tricks’ were still on.

In 2003 Australian batsman Darren Lehmann was severely reprimanded by match referee Clive Lloyd after a racial outburst during Australia's triangular series match against Sri Lanka.

Lehmann's outburst followed his return to the dressing room after being run out by Russel Arnold having helped compile a match-winning 72-run stand with man of the match Michael Bevan. Members of the Sri Lankan team and management heard the outburst clearly in their dressing room and immediately lodged an official complaint with Lloyd.

According to Sri Lanka team sources, Lehmann immediately sent a letter of apology to the Sri Lanka team. Having received the letter the Sri Lanka team management appealed to Lloyd for leniency, saving Lehmann from a certain match ban.

Here the outburst came in public where every one could have heard, but, once an apology came the Lankan management was gentlemanly enough to appeal to match referee Lloyd to settle the issue, but in the present context what is the status quo?

No other soul who was present on the field other than the so called victim Symonds heard Harbhajan calling him a ‘monkey’. Not even the buried microphone on the field picked up the alleged ‘abuse’. It was the word of one against the other. However, one hopes that the New Zealand Judge John Hanson who was appointed by the ICC to probe into the Indian appeal will find out what really transpired on the field that day. Justice Hansen is a High Court Judge and New Zealand Cricket's appointee on the ICC's Code of Conduct Commission.

Let justice take its own course, but, what is really intriguing is to see as to what irked the cricket loving world to hold it against the Australians on this instance?

Once again we will take the liberty of drawing a Lankan comparison on this issue. When Sri Lanka toured Australia just prior to the arrival of the Indians there were several decisions that went against the Lankans that cost them the series.

I just cannot still fathom as to how these elite umpires do it and do it always in favour of the Australians, ironically it happens more than often.

At the beginning of the Lankan series after Sri Lanka batting first were in for a rude shock when one of world’s most feared batsmen – Sanath Jayasuriya was ruled out caught behind by an umpire from New Zealand who made a last minute entry into the game. But sadly the ball did not even get close to the blade of Sanath’s bat. That bad decision gave Sri Lanka a very inauspicious start to the whole series.

Then in the last innings of the series when Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara was taking battle into the Aussie zone and threatening to score a very unlikely Lankan victory the whole world watched in utter disbelief the decision that went against the Lankan batsman.

This is fact not fiction. On the first inning of the second Test Australia were struggling at 137 for 6 and a while later a huge ‘nick’ off Andrew Symonds’ bat was negated by an umpire and the batsman also decides to stay on and bat a second inning only to rescue his side from disaster.

Then in the second inning when India was in trouble and Sourav Ganguly was engaged in rearguard action the whole world once again looked on in utter disbelief how an umpire ruled the batsman out when the catcher ‘put’ the ball on the ground to regain balance only on the insistence of the ‘holier than thou’ Australian captain Rickey Pointing.

At that moment what the Australians did not ascertain was that they were locking their horns against the richest cricket playing nation on earth and just like then the Indians also can flex their muscles as effectively as them and as far as the ICC is concerned they will always find time for India.

No one can argue that Australia is the best cricket playing nation on earth. But, what they still have to learn is that they do not have to resort to all these ‘monkey tricks’ to prove that point.