The public opinion
'Disgraceful Sidhu must quit' has received sharp responses with some supporting the view and others strongly opposing the same. Given below is a sample of the reaction. You are welcome to send your reactions on the reactions to
editor@team.indiainfo.com.
Brick bat
Having read other accounts of the Boycott/Sidhu 'altercation' I think she has over-reacted. I understand that at one point Boycott was wearing one of Sidhu's turbans, and that he maintained his sense of humour throughout. Unlike Ms Richards, it has to be said.
I don't think that comparison of the two former batsmen's total runs and averages is relevant. But it's worth pointing out that Sidhu was a late developer, and his average towards the end of his career bears comparison with Boycott's.
I saw Sidhu on TV during the most recent Test, at Headingley, and he was entertaining and amusing, with as many bon mots as ever. The idea that he should be dropped as a commentator or pundit is monstrous. He does not need to apologise to Boycott. Long may he wax lyrical. -
Dave Collier, Yorkshire
If you are a true Indian, you will not like people pointing fingers at you or your players. At that time, Boycott was doing the same things.
Actually these English people never digest an Indian win. And we fools, whenever someone comes to our rescue (like Sidhu) we starts pointing fingers at our own person. Highly ridiculous.
Actually, we are still in the habit of licking the boots of Englishmen. That is why whenever some true Indian acts against our 'masters' we fire him.
Instead of writing such articles, the reporter must concentrate on the more serious problems in India like drought.
Hope the author will entertain this small gesture of mine. -
A Shrivastava
Neena Richards, you are one of those still with the colonial hangover and will do anything to sucker up to a white man. Your mentality is the bane of India and believe me, you better shut up.
I feel sorry for the moment God decided to give you a vocabulary without the mind and the heart that needs to go with it. As far as I know, TV ratings decide who should be there and who should not. I guess you should be kicked out on that criterion alone.
After ages, we have somebody who has the gumption to speak his mind and be
proud to be an Indian and not stand any trash. You just shut up and let the rest of us enjoy somebody actually bashing India bashers. -
Ranganath Narapuram
"750-odd runs in 100 overs is no joke, " It was only 651 runs that was scored in the match. "750-odd runs" is exaggeration similar to Sidhu's comments. -
Manjunath B R
Neena Richards, just shut the hell up and see in what way U can find fault of non-Indians. I hope you got my point. -
Santosh, Pittsburgh
Do you think Sidhu should touch Boycot's feet instead of his shoulder? -
Vasu
I think we should leave Sidhu alone. Every game, every profession has its bad boys. Cricket has its own bad boys like Miandad, who showed his anger when given out lbw or the Australians for sledging, nobody asks them to quit when they provoke other players.
Even John McEnroe was the bad boy of tennis. He has used profanities on court and no one asked him to quit tennis. Then why are we making a fuss about Sidhu.
I agree that the emotions were running high in this match, and even Sidhu is human so his reaction is justified, let's leave Sidhu alone to do his brand of commentating, one person's biased opinion should not sway us away from this sardar. -
P M Gilbert
Looks like a lot of our so called "moderates" will do anything to appease a white (read that non-Indian) person. It still runs in our blood. By all means, Boycott's contribution to cricket is not small.
My inability to witness the actions makes me decipher from this article that Sidhu lacked class. Man... Sidhu is as much Indian as we are. Cut him some slack. Who was not delirious when we won this game.
I was on the phone for two hours (following with my friend on the Internet) - when we were chasing, travelling between Dallas and Houston, when the win was accomplished.
Were we happy or what when we won this game!!! We are not sure if Boycott had insinuated enough when it looked like England was going to kick India's rear end. If he had done enough, Sidhu put his profession in line and still stood up. HATS OFF SIDHU.
On the side note - how many times has Boycott won matches for England single-handed. I can count a bunch of them where Sidhu has. Remember a no stroke wonder named Chris Tavare.
He too scored a bunch of runs against a lot of class-less fast bowling. He rode Boatham and Willis' tail to a bunch of wins in his career. Please don't give a lot of crap about what Sidhu and Boycott accomplished in their respective careers. I am sure I could spin it significantly in Sidhu's favour. -
Karthik Vishwa
I do agree with the fact that it was not the best of the behaviour especially when live on TV. Sidhu is very aggressive and assertive type of a person. After such an impossible emphatic win even Ganguly could not resist his emotions and pull off his shirt, so this gesture of Sidhu is understandable and must be excused.
Also remember not only Boycott but also the viewers take this bit lightly and therefore as you said, the incident went unnoticed.
Boycott has been a strong critic of the Indian team and time and again he has been criticising the team for not chasing runs despite the consistent performance. Sidhu gave him a thumping reply by being more emotional. I think the situation calls for ignoring this incident. -
Manoj
Just giving better treatment, by merit of having a 'Sir' beside Boycott's name? Or better treatment, for the 'time and amount' of cricket played by Boycott? Or just because he is a gentleman, and Sidhu is a boisterous and animated Indian cricketer?
I believe that passions run high, and Sidhu as a cricketer commentator has done nothing, but to display the passion in his own sweet style, and Boycott did nothing to counter it, leave alone respond proactively to it.
Whether Boycott, felt offended or not, only he can answer, and I believe going by Boycott's boycotted/ muted facial reactions, one needn't make perceptions for the other.
Ms Neena Richards needs to know and understand the concept of being a 'first hand' and a 'second hand' (for the unknowing reader, a first hand reaction by Boycott, would have been helpful, rather than airing second hand perceptions, by viewers, including the author)
Indiainfo, airing these kind of articles, from people who are connected to cricket through 'passion of a different kind', no doubt gives it's reader's a little more entertainment, but it wouldn't add any value to itself.
I think, I have reason to believe that the editor would scan articles by 'so called celebrities' before posting them on the net.
And certainly, articles such as this, lack the punch, reason, 'passion', and moreover absolutely no intellectual value. -
S V Srikanth
Geoffrey Boycott is one who doesn't take nonsense from anybody. And if
Sidhu did behave in an inappropriate manner, Boycott would have given
it back to him by now. Why should Sidhu quit?
He has been commentating for some time now and commentators, just like
players develop a camaraderie. Who knows what Boycott must have said
behind the scenes to evoke such a response from Sidhu?
If the logic of comparing records in the article is applied , then Harsha Bhogle shouldn't joke at all, since he has not been a cricketer himself or
for that matter even Sanjay Manjrekar, who didn't have an impressive
One-day record.
Even Ravi Shastri's statistics are not that great, but he jokes around with the likes of Boycott and Chappell. And by the way, in the Western world, the relationship between colleagues, even if there is an age difference, is quite cool than what we are used to.
I am a great fan of Boycott's commentary and admire his sense of not being partial, but it doesn't mean that he couldn't say anything provocative.
Sidhu is doing a great job by using his colorful vocabulary to keep everyone interested in his next comment. Keep it up Sidhu, but mellow down a bit.
And yes, there were 650 odd runs scored in 100 overs in that game, not 750. -
Niranjan Pathak, Dallas, USA
Without seeing the incident on TV (live) I cannot entirely agree with the article and outcast Sidhu for his emotional outburst/body language. We as Indians (skin colour) tend to suck up to whites and hold all whites (high) irrespective of their qualifications and expertise.
It's time we show them their place, we don't have to agree to whites because of their colour and so called economic clout. Boycott is by no means God, a lot of cricketers including Indians (Merchant, Hazare, Pataudi, Gavaskar, Vishwanath, Spin Triplets so on) have contributed to this game and Boycott is one among them.
When Chris Tavare and Boycott batted the whole world went to sleep!!! It's time we have the likes of Sidhu and more to drive home the point that Indian cricket will not be dictated and dance to the tunes of whites.
It's pathetic to see a reputable newspaper openly resorting to sacking Sidhu. This piece of information should be presented in a more polished manner but at the same time defend certain postures.
I think this author (Neena Richards - looks like a Christian name) has a tendency to suck up to whites or Christians or has some personal animosity against Sidhu. You cannot judge and sack people based on some emotional confrontations/body language.
We need people like Sidhu to teach certain players/playing nations not to mess and capitalise on colour and race. -
Vishwanath
Bouquet
Sidhu was a painful episode in an otherwise highly enjoyable series. He should quit using those idioms he has so diligently memorised. The game of cricket will gain from the idiot's absence. Let him oblige post haste. -
Anurag
No one minds Sidhu on the commentary team, but it is the picture we would like to see without a continuous barrage from the microphone... some comments are inane.
He should take a leaf out of Shastri's book and make relevant, sensible observations instead of putting his foot-in-his-mouth more times than not. let the pictures do the talking is what a TV viewer would be happier with. -
Henry
Sidhu is indeed a disgrace to Indian cricket. The guy knows nothing about cricket nor about being a gentleman. Cricket is a game for gentlemen.
We need a serene and intelligent commentator and not a clown. Doesn't the ESPN have enough resources to get some decent guy? -
Shankar
I agree 100 per cent Sidhu was a disgrace as a commentator. I had seen him forget the basic niceties
with Boycott during earlier matches too. It was embarrassing, to say the least, to watch his
'performances' on TV. (What a lech!)
He owes an apology to Boycott, a true friend of India. Also, he would do well to stay away from television
commentating given his excitable temperament. And lastly, regarding his commentary..., what was he trying to
prove with all those verbal somersaults ? What a show off ! -
Bhanu Prakash Musunooru
Sidhu should be heavily penalised. Firstly for his horrible commentary which
is so fake and so irrelevant and hopeless comparisons... "FLUTE, CUCUMBER, FOX, DEER, TRUMPET, FLUTE" for heaven's sake, we are watching
cricket...
He gets really excited and secondly and most importantly his behaviour towards Sir Geoffrey Boycott was very, very bad... I felt bad, I would know how bad Sir Geoffrey Boycott must have felt.
Sidhu should apologise in front of everyone and NO JUSTIFICATION should be
done, in order to cover up... and after that he should retire from all cricketing arena. -
Sayed Noaman Mohammed
The author is Right! In fact we find Sidhu's commentary quite suffocating. It seems he has just finished his MA in idioms and phrases and wants to use them all. Very unsophisticated and in Sidhu's language - 'Stupendously Stupid' -
Sunil Suri
I think he does more homework on learning idioms and phrases than learning about etiquette and manners, not forgetting his over enthusiasm to speak as much as possible on everything and anything whether the situation warrants or not.
He should take a break giving rest to his tongue and doing little exercise on the thinking process. (But the bottom line is that unless the concerned authorities realise this, me and you talking about it is of no use!) -
Deepak Bubna
I agree with Neena Richards that Sidhu's behaviour with Sir Geoffery was not the best one and certainly not when one is talking live. Probably Sidhu got carried away with the occasion and has very few opportunities to get one up on Sir Geoffrey and this was one he didn't want to let go.
Sidhu has created his brand of Cricket commentary, which has less cricketing sense and more of SAYINGS. He has his own followers. But the fact remains that Sir Geoffrey is a very highly respected cricketer/commentator the world over.
His analysis of the game is based on a particular situation and not on the past. His assessment of the game , in my view, is unparalleled. A great commentator with very high knowledge of the game.
May be we owe an apology to Sir Geoffery, for he is a great contributor to the popularity of cricket particularly in the sub-continent.
By the way, Ms Neena Richards got the total number of runs scored wrong. It was not 750 odd runs but 650 odd runs. -
Kamal Kumar Sharma
I feel so angry on Sidhu for making such comments sitting near Sir Geoffry Boycott. Sidhu must quit the commentary for ESPN STAR. He should learn from
Ravi, Harsha and Sunil Gavaskar of how to behave in front of live camera. -
Babu
I think it will be better for Sidhu to quit from the commentary team. -
Mahesh Rasal
I agree totally that Sidhu's behaviour has been very irritating lately. Initially it was fun but now he is almost always over doing the put down stuff. -
Govind R Nair
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