Look who's talking behaviour

No we did not expect Shane Warne to support Kings XI Punjabs Ravichandran Ashwins run out of Rajasthan Royals Jos Buttler in the Indian Premier League in Jaipur on Monday night After all he is the ambassador of the Englishmans Indian Premier League franchise But what was most stunning about Warnes swift utterances on the controversy was one about how the Indian offspinner was going to be remembered for that low actLook whos talking Warne would not want his wellpublicised antics in his international and IPL career to stand in the way of his high rating as a legspinner arguably the best spinner of alltime so why would he want the Mankading incident to badly smudge Ashwins sheetIn fact another personality with a Warnelike transgressions record would think hard before judging another player but Warne cant stop being WarneIts astounding that an Australian slams an action which is well within the rules of the game After all dont they state often that theyve been brought up to play the game hard but fairLets look at sledging which they may not have pioneered but have indeed perfected It is well known in cricket circles Down Under that when a player cops verbals the whole day he is told that whatever happens on the field of play must stay there In short you expect the player on the receiving end to work up a memory fade after stumps are drawn and be matey for the rest of the evening I presume this must be so damn hardThose who are taken in by Warnes preaching shouldnt forget that he was never a great advertisement for the noble side of the game Has Ashwin ever been guilty of accepting money from a bookie to give out pitch and weather information Or consumed a banned substance which resulted in a oneyear ban thereby missing a World Cup Or fined for a Twitter spat with an administrator in the IPL Or for that matter getting physical with an opponent in the Big Bash League With a rap sheet this long Warne sure has some temerity to get after someone elseWarne crossed the line like Buttler in terms of criticism for Ashwins action In one of his tweets he urged the BCCI not to condone this sort of behaviour Warne may have been a master when it came to choosing well from his repertoire of deliveries but to use the word behaviour for someone who chose to play by the rulebook and leave aside the optional spirit of the game book is more than just misplacedCourtney Walshs name cropped up in articles about the latest controversy ndash how the Jamaican warned Saleem Jaffar before running him out in a tight game against Pakistan during the 1987 World Cup Walsh received universal praise despite West Indies losing the game There are other examples of great sportsmanship too and while those great practitioners of nobility should be hailed praised and never forgotten those who feel that the spirit of the game need not be applied in a given situation like Ashwin on Monday should be spared the whip because they didnt do anything unlawful They chose to play hard as per the match situation and there shouldnt be anything wrong with that So lets throw out all the ladders for those who want to take a moral high ground Another astounding reaction came from Rajasthan Royals coach Paddy Upton I think R Ashwins actions tonight speak for him and represent him When I looked in the eyes of his teammates Im not sure it represented his teammates Upton said With due respect to Uptons abilities which were vital in Indias 2011 World Cup triumph when he was the MS Dhoniled teams mental conditioning coach when did the South African make it his business to look into the eyes of opposition players after a loss for his teamButtler was trying to gain an unfair advantage by stepping out of his crease Why should Buttler who has been run out in that fashion before deserve any sympathy Yes in another age the bowler would have warned the batsman but thats a personal choice and there was a game to be won Whenever there is a run out such as this Vinoo Mankad appears on the scene Ditto Bill Brown who Mankad ran out on the 194748 tour of Australia This is inevitable but it should be remembered that the duo served their country with distinction and the incident involving them is a mere page of history Both have a great Lords connection The India v England 1952 Test there came to be known as Mankads Test despite India losing Brown on the other hand is the first Australian to score two hundreds at the spiritual home of cricket and no Australian has gone passed his tally there including Don BradmanAshwin is a strong enough character to put the latest row behind him and concentrate on Kings XI Punjabs quest for their maiden IPL title Hes more used to and better at foxing batsmen with his craft than nailing them for being out of their crease at the nonstrikers endmiddays group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs 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