5 important lessons to learn from Australia’s Sandpaper Gate

#Lesson 4: Fallen Heroes are Seldom Given a Pat

Before the start of the fourth Test, all 3 players were flown back to Australia. They broke down during the course of the press conference. Such outburst of emotions is never a good sight. As a result, we could see a number of prominent cricketers took to Twitter to extend moral support to Steve Smith & company, but the hard decision was already taken by Cricket Australia after losing one of its major sponsors.

In the aftermath of the emotional press conferences, a number of heart-breaking news stories got published around these players. Warner’s wife Candice lost her 3rd baby in a miscarriage due to mental stress. Steve Smith's father dumped his son's cricketing kit in the garage; probably to restore his son's mental sanity.

With this kind of news reports, a lot of general Australian public may have sympathized the 3 players, but forgiving them clearly meant branding Australia as a country that encourages cheating. Right from the era of Allan Border, Australians have played a very aggressive brand of cricket, which they term it as ‘Win-at-all-costs.'

For the current generation of cricketers in the Australian camp, it had been a part of their cultural upbringing. The only difference is that it backfired this time and two of their greatest cricketing stars became fallen heroes overnight.