Sudeep
International Captain
Australia made an exception for Hayden when they knew they were going to win. They were playing Zimbabwe.honestbharani said:Yeah, but his philosophy is skewed.....He probably uttered the most oxymoronic thing ever when he said that Aussies won't play for records and then said straightaway that what happened with Hayden was exception.....Well, so it is with the Windies....Lara does not always play for records and what happened this time was an exception.....I agree that Ponting talks too much. He didn't know how good the Windies bowlers were, he didn't know how good the pitch was (regardless of reading on paper or watching on TV, it is still not the same as seeing the actual thing) and he had no real right to comment when he knew so little.....But even he is tolerable as he is a great player.....That Tony Greig is the biggest idiot around in world cricket.....He brings interest to the game with his commentating, but as an expert, his views are always wrong....His predictions almost never come true....Compare that with a GAvaskar or a Boycott, who always predict well (atleast most of the time)....
But replying to the topic, I didn't read it on many big sites......Rediff and Times of India usually share the same columns, so there is a good chance that this incident might have been blown out of proportions by some journalist who might have taken offence by whatever the team did there.....
Look, I'm not saying Lara was selfish. I think this innings might help a bit in reviving Windies cricket.
But, Ponting did nothing wrong in expressing his opinion. And I don't think he was being contradictory in Hayden's situation, since it was a totally different contest.
And the Indians' comments issue could have been blowed out of proportion, but PTI is a good source, so can't really put an opinion on the whole thing.