Tony Cozier slams Lara

[honestbharani]

By ICC later on.



You can take your aggro somewhere else- i am in no mood for it.
Firstly, his ferrari- he requested an excemption from taxes, as is the RIGHT for any citizen and he got it.
Secondly, Tendulkar mouthing obscene words- it speaks for itself that you can find only ONE incident in his 17 year career.
And Tendulkar has never-EVER shown dissent on the pitch. The closest he's come was the 'shoulder before wicket' farcial decision from Bucknor and even then he just looked startled before walking off.
His questioning of the selectors were nowhere near as crude and confrontational as Lara's for example. And Lastly, he did NOT make a hue and cry about missing his double ton- he was asked how he felt about it and he said he was disappointed and thats that.
As for favouring Mumbai players- he himself was against the picking of Noel David and the only Mumbai pick he backed was Kuruvilla i think.Not that it is that outrageous- Mumbai have been the Ranji champions through most of the 90s and their players could easily make a fair case over almost any newcommer to the side.
All things considered, it is a FACT that Tendulkar is one of the best behaved people onfield, if not THE best behaved from a career standpoint.
Whereas Lara is nowhere near that classy on or off the field.

I have never seen Sachin shake the hand of an opposition player for a big knock. I have never seen Sachin walk when he has nicked the ball and ump hasn't made the decision (Except once). And I have never seen Sachin praise the opposition players as much as Lara has done.... Lara basically praised every player of the Indian team right after this series, never seen Sachin do that to an opposition team.


Look, both of them are from differenent cultures and it is obvious why Lara would be more of a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve than Sachin, given the cultures where they grew up. Lara has had his share of faults, perhaps a few more than Sachin, but that in no way means that Sachin is so far ahead of him as a sportsman. There are a number of instances where Sachin has lost his cool. Watch the 97 coca cola cup match in Sharjah when he publicly yelled at Laxman for not running fast enough. Have not seen Lara yell at his team mate like that, esp. someone who is just coming into the side. That is not exactly example behaviour, you know.

 

[honestbharani]

Err. You certainly are given to hyperboles or misrepresentations.
He definately wasnt mouthing off obscene words and as such, may've said the odd word here and there- aint nothing like Lara openly instigating a fight though.



You mean 'shook his head and walked off looking skywards' ?!?
You certainly got a penchant for cooking stuff up.



Ofcourse crude or confrontational matters- pay attention!
Tony Cozier's article is about conduct. C-O-N-D-U-C-T. As such, it makes helluva lotta difference if you are gonna state the same thing graciously or like a lil git.



Certainly not. "I was dissappointed" is a statement- not an overreaction. Didnt indulge into hyperboles, didnt blame anybody, didnt give excuses, etc etc.



Bahutule had many supporters- not the least amongst whom was Kapil Dev at that time and many felt that he deserved a shot. As i said- Mumbai were the dominant team of the 90s. That their players could make a sufficient case is pretty well established in the context of the 90s.

watch that match. Then compare. I watched all these matches I am talking about LIVE and since I live in India, I get to watch repeats of that Nairobi match and that Sharjah match very many number of times, he used words that were just as obscene. The only thing that Sachin didn't do that Lara did was the bumping into McGrath voluntarily. But again, having seen that Bridgetown match, McGrath swearing at Lara in all sorts of ways seems enough provocation to me.

 

[honestbharani]

does anyone here seriously believe that lara is a classy guy in terms of conduct or behavior, or are the pro-lara guys just trying to show that sachin isn't much better?

I do. I have seen him come up from fine leg to shake the hand of Navjot Sidhu after he completed his double century. Have not seen too many Indians do that, you know. He has these moments when he lets his temper get the better of him, but that is only like 5% of the time at the max. Otherwise, he has been as good a role model as Sachin.