Is Cricket a Gentleman’s Sport?

Muscat: Indian Woman’s match last ODI match against Bangladesh was a thrilling tie but it was more known for the abysmal behavior of Harmanpreet Kaur after she was given out caught.

She first slammed her bat in anger to the stumps before having an angry exchange with the umpire and walking off. It did not end there, at the post match presentation, the woman’s captain of India further vented out her anger by saying ‘next time when we come to Bangladesh, we will have to make sure we have to deal with this kind of umpiring and accordingly prepare ourselves.’ But this was not the end.

During the photograph sessions with both sets of players, Harmanpreet shouted ‘bring in your umpires too for the photograph as they were a part of your team’. This was absolutely unacceptable in any cricket and mind you this was international cricket happening and it was a direct insult to the Bangladeshi women’s cricket player.

Yes players off late do get upset on being given out but Harmanpreet Kaur had crossed all boundaries. Mind you she is the captain of team India and upcoming young players look upon her as a role model. Secondly she is representing her national team and not playing gully cricket. By first slamming the bat on the stumps, then speaking and blaming the umpires and lastly insulting the Bangladesh woman players during the photo session was crossing all lines of discipline. It’s quite surprising that so for neither BCCI the richest cricketing board in the world nor ICC has reprimanded Harman for her actions. But if its just a fine players might repeat it as it does not pinch them much as they are paid quite well. Unless a player is banned for a few games a lesson might not be learned as someone next time might think twice before doing such thing on the cricket field.