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Gilchrist calls Tendulkar a "Bad Sport"

Precambrian

Banned
Or maybe what Gilchrist is trying to say is that for Australian players, what you say or do on the field doesn't matter as long as it's within the laws of the game, while for some Indian players, like Tendulkar and Harbhajan, they take things more personally. So they might be upset even after a match about what happened on the field, and maybe that's something that contributed to the strained relations between the sides during the 07/08 tour, and other tours.

Because honestly, that's pretty true IMO, and that's how it reads, if you actually read the quote and not the headline. He says that Australians "play it hard but are quick to look for a handshake after the game", but that some players aren't interested in 'shaking hands' so to speak. If he was trying to call them unsportsmanlike I doubt he would have backed it up with the phase "different strokes for different folks" because when it comes to sportsmanship, that's really not a common perspective.

edit: And frankly I don't see what Lillee and Miandad or whatever else has to do with this, unless you're trying to suggest Australian players are all evil monsters and therefore Gilchrist must be saying something horrible about Sachin or whatever. Like has been said, massive beatup, non issue, etc etc.
As you said, I never intend to beat up all Australians as "evil-bad" etc at the outset. Those days of ill-informed judgements are past.

Secondly, it can be preceived that Gilly might have intended to say about Tendulkar as you suggested. However, his choice of words fails him as the Newspaper report suggests. It gives plenty of room to be construed as an "attack" on Tendulkar, than otherwise.
 

Burgey

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This is what quoted by Gilchrist,



Unless you have just arrived from Mars, or are a complete fool, it is obvious what Gilchrist is trying to tell regarding Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh. That they are unsportsmanlike. Calling a legend unsportsmanlike is not a "non-issue".

Let Gilly be reminded of McGrath Sarwan incident as well as Lillee-Miandad.
Your post is completely at odds with the man's words themselves. And again, if you want to draw that bow, then you must concede on the same rationale that Sehwag's comments pre-1st test were saying Australia cheated in Sydney. When that was suggested on these forums, it was quickly dispelled because he didn't use the words "cheat".

Look, just because it's Tendulkar doesn't mean we have to get all hysterical about it. If he'd said the same thing about Ganguly, HBS or whoever, would we really give a **** about the comments? It's like when Bill O'Reilly (the bowler, not the douche on Fox News) was asked why he never made public some of the things about Bradman which were less flattering than The Don's image portrayed - "You don't **** on statues, son". Surely you're not suggesting the bloke's beyond reproach because he's got a great record and is generally regarded well by his peers?
 
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FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
As you said, I never intend to beat up all Australians as "evil-bad" etc at the outset. Those days of ill-informed judgements are past.

Secondly, it can be preceived that Gilly might have intended to say about Tendulkar as you suggested. However, his choice of words fails him as the Newspaper report suggests. It gives plenty of room to be construed as an "attack" on Tendulkar, than otherwise.
Maybe, but I think if people really want to read something as an attack on Tendulkar, they will anyway, unless all he says is "by golly, isn't that Sachin Tendulkar a top guy". Keep in mind that we don't know what he says in the rest of even that paragraph, or the context in the book as a whole. That's why I said earlier that I wouldn't pass judgement on his intent. The fact that it seems to read quite differently to different people should indicate that there's not a lot of clarity in what's quoted.

I do think he's negative about Tendulkar's role in getting Harbhajan off in the monkey incident though. If you want to defend Tendulkar on those grounds, go ahead. I just don't think the sportsmanship thing has any weight to it at all, unless there's an actual quote from Gilchrist saying that he thinks Tendulkar is unsportsmanlike.

edit: Might I also suggest that what Gilchrist wrote may, actually, just have been his specific experience? Like that maybe after a game, he went into the Indian dressing room looking to shake hands and Tendulkar was nowhere to be found? I mean, if that happened, it hardly means that Tendulkar is a bad sport, there could be any number of explainations, so why would you infer that from what Gilchrist wrote? It just seems like a really radical interpretation on the evidence offered.
 
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SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Might I also suggest that what Gilchrist wrote may, actually, just have been his specific experience? Like that maybe after a game, he went into the Indian dressing room looking to shake hands and Tendulkar was nowhere to be found? I mean, if that happened, it hardly means that Tendulkar is a bad sport, there could be any number of explainations, .
Quite likely thats what happened. It was what immediately came to my mind but would that be something you would bother about mentioning in your autobiography? I haven't read the book and do not know the context but it is pretty odd on the face of it.
 

FaaipDeOiad

Hall of Fame Member
I think it was just meant to be an example of why relations became strained between the teams, because they had different approaches and different priorities, particularly with regard to the on field/off field divide. That essentially, regardless of what happened, Gilchrist and by extension the rest of the team were always looking to shake hands after the game while the Indian players didn't have the same approach.

That's not calling someone a bad sport though. I think it probably would be if Tendulkar actually refused to shake hands after the game because India lost or whatever, but it's a bit different as it's presented, which is why I think it's a non-issue that's been blown up into some sort of attack on Tendulkar's character.
 

Johnners

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Why try make it more sensational with these kind of posts? If someone finds it "non-issue", let them ignore it and that way this thread will die.
Was merely pointing out the ridiculousness of it all. As Faaip & Burgey said, it seems unless Sachin is being overwhelmed with praise, you can't say a thing about him. I love the bloke, and think he's most certainly a legend, and a true gentleman of the game. But the way people carry on when another player/critic etc. dares utter what could possibly be construed as a negative comment about him, it's really quite pathetic.

Yep, spot on.

Look at Ponting's press conference after the latest loss when he blamed everyone and everything for the loss but for the opposition being too good and his own team not playing well enough.
Do recall Ponting saying "we were out played" after the last test. But do agree they generally don't take losing well (not that the team has had much experience of that over the last decade).
 

pup11

International Coach
I think this is seriously poor timing form Gilchirst to come up with something like this, the Australian team has just lost a test heavily to India, Tendulkar has just broken the world-record and Gilly's comments in between all this don't go that well.

I have the utmost respect for Gilly as a sportsman, and i don't have much doubt that what he might be saying might be true, but what is he going to achieve by digging up old graves other than get dirty, yeah he might sell a few books but he is risking his whole image in India, where he is one of the most loved and respected foreign cricketers by targetting the Indian demi-god himself, i think the whole ideology that Sachin can't do no wrong is a bit crappy too, of course he has played his whole life in the true spirit of the game, but is it really hard to believe that he can lie to save one of his team-mates, if their career was on the line, as the case was with Harbhajan.
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
is it really hard to believe that he can lie to save one of his team-mates, if their career was on the line, as the case was with Harbhajan.
Actually it is pretty damn hard to believe that Tendulkar will lie to defend any kind of abuse let alone a racial abuse and trust me I am not really a fanatic Tendulkar fan.

And lastly I dont know how and when Tendulkar's career was on the line.
 

Precambrian

Banned
I think this is seriously poor timing form Gilchirst to come up with something like this, the Australian team has just lost a test heavily to India, Tendulkar has just broken the world-record and Gilly's comments in between all this don't go that well.

I have the utmost respect for Gilly as a sportsman, and i don't have much doubt that what he might be saying might be true, but what is he going to achieve by digging up old graves other than get dirty, yeah he might sell a few books but he is risking his whole image in India, where he is one of the most loved and respected foreign cricketers by targetting the Indian demi-god himself, i think the whole ideology that Sachin can't do no wrong is a bit crappy too, of course he has played his whole life in the true spirit of the game, but is it really hard to believe that he can lie to save one of his team-mates, if their career was on the line, as the case was with Harbhajan.
Until that part your post was superb. What makes you think Tendulkar would lie? And Harby's career was not on the hook as you say. Darren Lehmann was banned for some games for calling Murali some really bad word, yet he continued to play and became a legend in the eyes of Australian supporters. I don't think Tendulkar would have sacrificed his reputation to lie, esp when other evidence like the stump-mic etc were there, and TEndulkar would've no idea what those things recorded, until the testimony.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Gilchrist is my all time favourite Australian cricketer but I must say I am disappointed by what I have read so far. Maybe the book will clarify. But I am NOT going to buy it for that would only prove the cynicism (if that is what made him think this would sell) well placed.
 

social

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Gilchrist is my all time favourite Australian cricketer but I must say I am disappointed by what I have read so far. Maybe the book will clarify. But I am NOT going to buy it for that would only prove the cynicism (if that is what made him think this would sell) well placed.
If we take this excerpt to be an accurate relection of what Gilchrist believes to be true (and nothing in his record suggests that this wouldnt be the case), then the only "cynical" aspect is the timing of the release and the passage chosen for serialisation

Unfortunately or otherwise, neither of thos decisions rests solely with Gilchrist - it's up to the publisher of the book and of the newspaper
 

Sanz

Hall of Fame Member
Gilchrist is my all time favourite Australian cricketer but I must say I am disappointed by what I have read so far. Maybe the book will clarify. But I am NOT going to buy it for that would only prove the cynicism (if that is what made him think this would sell) well placed.
What he said. Very disappointed.
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
Don't really see what the problem with the article is. We all know the Aussies thought Harbhajan was guilty. Whether he was guilty, or whether the Aussies mis-heard a term in another language, only one man knows and that is Harbhajan himself. Doesn't mean Gilchrist isn't allowed an opinion on the matter.
 

G.I.Joe

International Coach
I think it was just meant to be an example of why relations became strained between the teams, because they had different approaches and different priorities, particularly with regard to the on field/off field divide. That essentially, regardless of what happened, Gilchrist and by extension the rest of the team were always looking to shake hands after the game while the Indian players didn't have the same approach.
Don't buy that nonsense one bit. One of the peeves of the Indian team after that game was the Aussies schoolgirl celebration and not bothering to shake hands with Kumble and Ishant on the field after the last wicket fell.

Anyway, this is a non issue, and I'm not really surprised. Financial independence can do a lot to ride over ones inhibitions.
 
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Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
The point still stands, it wasn't a definitive 'a' as in singular...Gilchrist actually said nothing like any of the headlines. The closest being The Australian headline...which is to be expected really as it is probably the paper with the most integrity.

I'd like to say I'm amazed at how people fly off the handle at things like this...but I'm not really.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Heh

Whether people like it or not, this has received a large amount of coverage.
Quite. That's what I meant by this:

Storm in a teacup. Gilchrist & Sachin both seem like two of the more upstanding crickters of recent vintage, but their crap smells like everyone elses.

Clever timing from Gilly's publishers tho, it must be said.
Slap bang in the middle of the rematch series and, obviously, whichever paper serialises it is going to pounce on the bits that can be spun into something juicy. Sells papers &, probably, a few more copies of Gilly's tome.
 

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