Gamesmanship Vs Sporstmanship

Gamesmanship means the use of dubious ,although not technically illegal ,methods to win a game. Sportsmanship means fairness in following the rules of the game. Strangely the Indian cricket Captain M.S.Dhoni was jeered by the crowd for gamesmanship before tea break in the second test at Trent Bridge between India and England and soon after the tea break he was cheered for his sportsmanship . Here is a classic case of a jeer turning in to a cheer. It all happened because of a bizarre controversial run out decision of Ian Bell by the umpires.Ian Bell and Eon Morgan were at the crease.Morgan played the ball down the leg side and Praveen kumar dived to stop the ball.The ball bounced of his leg to the field of play and kumar fell over the boundary.Kumar throws the ball apparently under the impression it was a boundary ,MSD collects the ball and throws it to fielder Mukund,who removes the bails.Not knowing what was happening Bell and Morgan were going back to the pavilion thinking ,the umpire had called for tea break. Obviously ,it was the last ball before the tea break.The umpires after consultation with television umpire Billy Bowden, ruled Bell was run out.

Soon after the tea break Ian Bell was recalled since MSD had withdrawn his appeal.In the interest of the game and to uphold the spirit of the game MSD had withdrawn his appeal. The crowd cheered MSD and the Indian team .Two former England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan reportedly said they would have also made an appeal for run out under similar circumstances as MSD did in the first instance.ICC has applauded Indian teams gesture to recall Ian Bell.But what happened during the tea break to make MSD reverse his decision and withdraw his appeal ?.It is also reported that during the tea break England captain Strauss and Coach Andy Fletcher went to the Indian dressing room and asked whether India would like to reverse the appeal and recall Bell .It is believed after consulting team mates MSD agreed for the reversal of the appeal.Since MSD and the Indian team has agreed to reverse their appeal ,now everyone is lauding the Indian team and MSD. If the Indian captain had stuck to his decision , he and the Indian team would have been blamed for not upholding the spirit of the game,by the entire world media.

England has also once rescinded an appeal overnight against Haynes in an England Vs West Indies match, since it was the last ball of the day.But it must be borne in mind that during an ODI  England bowler Ryan Sidebottom obstructed Kiwi batsman Grant Elliott, who was subsequently run out.England captain Paul Collingwood chose not to recall Elliott after being given the chance.But Rahul Dravid did reveal what happened in the dressing room during tea break that led to the reversal of the appeal."Once he was out and we came back in for tea, the discussion started in the dressing room and you could sense there was a feeling that, while it was in the laws of the game, it probably wasn't in the spirit of the game." During the recent West Indies tour India had to face a similar situation .But at the carribeans  the Indians were at the recieving end. A stumping off India batsman VVS Laxman during the recent West Indies tour, when he was in his crease but had inadvertently raised a foot while the bails were taken off, helped India to reverse the appeal against Ian Bell."The stumping of Laxman in the West Indies left a little bit of a bitter taste in our stomachs," Dravid said.When it happens to one of your guys, well if the tables were turned, I don't think our guys would have felt nice about it. That was one of the themes that was being discussed when we came in, what if it was one of our
guys?"

If MSD had not reversed the appeal ,will it have the strained the diplomatic relations between the two nations? .Well you can't say for sure.During the famous 1932 Ashes series where the infamous bodyline bowling was used by the England captain against the Australians,an Australian player termed it 'unsportsmanlike'.Diplomatic cables were exchanged between the two nations demanding  withdrawal of the insult.There were talks of a trade boycott. Finally after the intervention of the Australian PM the row was settled.In 1981 Australia bowled underarm to New zeland to ensure the Kiwi's do not tie the series.The New Zeland PM called it as the "most disgusting incident I can recall".More recently IPL teams refusing to sign Pakistan players was considered a snub to Pakistan .

Even the mood at the commentary box in the current England -India series is intense .Thanks to the spat between India's former captain Ravi shastri and England's fromer captain Nasser Hussain. Nasser made a comment that all test playing nations have agreed to the DRS system to review poor lbw umpiring decisions except India and it is a disgrace.He made this comment after Harbhajan was given out lbw though it was a thick inside edge on to his pads.Ravi was infuriated by Nasser's 'disgrace' remark .Ravi said England is hitting at whatever BCCI does,because they are jealous about IPL,India's number 1 ranking in test cricket and India is ICC world champions .Nasser replied I have earned the right to call it a disgrace ,I have played 96 test matches and I am paid by ESPN to air my views and opinions.Ravi's defence was India has every right to take the DRS or reject it .India has rejected it because it is not fool proof.Whatever it is, India's stay at the number one spot is little shaky now. It is also true many people rejoice it . Boycott said in a TV interview to  Memom "your crown will be off " .Ian Chappel writes in a news column "The surprise is not that India could lose their No. 1 Test ranking but rather how they managed to retain it so long." He said India has managed to stay at the number 1 spot so long because of the 'attacking threat of Virender Sehwag' and the 'shrewd manoeuvring of the captain MS Dhoni.' . Shewag is back from the third test . Will the shrewd captain atleast manage to square the series and retain the number one spot ?.It remains to be seen.Good luck to MSD and the Indian team .