Former Test captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi on Monday rubbished Australian media reports which termed the Indian cricket team as the worst-behaved.
MUMBAI: Former Test captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi on Monday rubbished Australian media reports which termed the Indian cricket team as the worst-behaved, saying it was on the contrary a very well-behaved outfit.
"The Indian teams, by and large, are well behaved. They may not be as passive as during our times with the youngsters giving back as well as they get (verbally) on the field," said the well-respected one-time megastar here.
Sydney's 'The Sunday Telegraph' used ICC data to claim that Indian cricketers were the worst-behaved, facing action in 43 cases, the maximum for any team. Indians were followed by Pakistan with 39 cases, South Africa with 27 and Australia 25 penalties by the ICC since 1997, the newspaper reported.
Pataudi, in the city to attend the Indian Premier League's Governing Council meeting to decide on media rights, also praised captain Anil Kumble for the way he had handled the unsavoury happenings during and after the second Test at Sydney.
"Anil has handled it extremely well in a dignified and mature manner. He has done an excellent job and the Cricket Board has backed the team as it's expected to," the former India skipper said.
Pataudi hoped that the International Cricket Council would eventually come out in a transparent manner about the happenings during the hearing by its match referee Mike Procter on Harbhajan Singh's alleged remarks to Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds that has led to a three-Test ban on the Indian spinner which is being bitterly contested by the BCCI.
"I hope the ICC will come out with more details after the Harbhajan Singh appeal hearing (against his verdict by New Zealand high court judge, Justice John Hansen). I don't think the whole story has come out yet. It seems to be a one-sided version," Pataudi said.
Pataudi felt the term "monkey", alleged to have been uttered to Symonds by Harbhajan during a heated part of the second Test, could denote different things.
"I think the ICC is treating it as referring to colour, more than anything else," he said.
The former India captain advised Kumble and his teammates to try and put the happenings at Sydney behind and play as well as they can in the remaining series.
"It's not easy (to do so), perhaps," he added.
Former India captain Kapil Dev had said on Sunday "for the last 40 years, India has been the best-behaved team on and off the field. The players have always played in the true spirit of the game.
"As far as I know, the Australians were the first one to indulge in sledging in international cricket. And now that they are complaining, India is being penalised for no fault of theirs," Kapil said.
Former opener and coach Anshuman Gaekwad too was aghast by the Australian report.
"India is the most cultured team in international cricket and it is also the most educated team. Some of the teams are not so educated and it reflects on their on-field conduct. This statistics does not reflect the Indian team's conduct," he said on Sunday.
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