What’s the story?
Former Australian great Glenn McGrath has revealed that Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar sledged him in English and added that calling an Aussie a bad loser was the worst insult one could ever encounter.
“I think there is no bigger insult than saying to an Australian that he is a bad loser or a cheat. Even Indians sledged. I was even sledged by Tendulkar in English,” McGrath revealed during an interaction at the Chennai International Centre.
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The Australian cricketers are widely known for their chirpy attitude on the field that would at times get under the skin of the batsman. The stump mic often picks up words being spoken by the players and many a time, the words would get into the batsman’s mind, resulting in him making the error.
The heart of the matter
Mcgrath further said once during a commentary session with former England skipper Michael Vaughan, the right-hander said Australia were not the worst sledgers in cricket and Sri Lanka were perhaps the top of the pile as far as that was concerned.
“When I was commentating, I asked Michael Vaughan (ex-England skipper), are the Australians worst sledging team in the world. He said `No'..and that we are not bad...But he did say Sri Lanka was the worst. I don't know if it was to do with any England-Lanka rivalry...But they didn't get caught like us! But if we played India or Sri Lanka, they would say something to us but no one would see it...but if we responded to it, then they go to the umpire saying things,“ he said.
What’s next?
It would be interesting to see whether Australia employ the sledging strategy during their tour to India next month, when things could tough for them on turning pitches against the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
However, both teams would ensure that the talk remains under control and no incident, that overshadows the game, occurs on the field.
Sportskeeda’s take
While it is important to play in the spirit of the game, a couple of words here or other is not the worst thing and as long as the players don’t go overboard as has been the case on certain occasions, it should be fine.
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