Slap on the face of Indian cricket!

Dubai: Harbhajan Singh slapping Sreesanth during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match is nothing but the culmination of the display of their arrogance.

In the recent past, both have been behaving like unruly boys only to be backed by supporters who feel that this should be the way the game is played.

They had support from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) too. BCCI saved Harbhajan from an alleged racial slur on Andrew Symonds, while Sreesanth was being projected as India's answer to Australia's sledging tactics.

Though it is Harbhajan who slapped Sreesanth, in reality it is a slap on Indian cricket. Two people who will have the last laugh over this incident are Australia's Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden.

In Australia, the BCCI painted Harbhajan as innocent and got him rescued. The point is that someone who can slap his teammate can resort to other abusive tactics too.

Reform school

By slapping a colleague, 27-year-old Harbhajan has revealed his immaturity. Whatever be the provocation, cricketers who resort to such violent methods should compulsorily be send to a reform school.

Shoaib Akhtar, who hit Mohammad Asif with a bat, is another example, and such cricketers should be kept away from the game despite their talent.

Hayden had called Harbhajan an "obnoxious weed" during an interview to Brisbane radio station and had to quickly apologise following BCCI demands for action against him. By rooting for an unruly cricketer, the BCCI has tarnished the image of Indian cricket and those who had heard Hayden have all the right to believe that he may not have been wrong.

Sreesanth's style of provoking his opponents has always been ugly. Despite claiming that meditation had sobered him, he still remains a wild man on the field. He provoked the Australians and won plaudits from his supporters, but when he did the same to an Indian, unfortunately he got a slap.

Both Harbhajan and Sreesanth may now want the issue to be hushed up for fear of losing money but they have made Indian cricket a laughing stock. The whole world was witness to a weeping Sreesanth and it is now the turn of the Indian fans to weep for having adored such heroes.