Why didnt he rub the right way?

Sreesanth rubs his seniors the wrong way says this article on Mumbai Mirror. Now I dont get this. All these years we keep talking about indian players lacking aggression and not showing enough killer instinct. We had guys like Srinath who will apologise to Ricky Ponting if his bouncer hits him on the body. And when Ponting, being the arrogant aussie he is, responds by mouthing choicest expletives, our good man from Mysore meekly turns and walks back to his run up. Why then, should we interpret it as misconduct or shooting of the lip when a young fast bowler shows some spirit and indulges in some good ol' sledging? I thought what he said to Sehwag was quite funny and a nice bit of sledging. The fact that Sehwag went and complained to the umpires shows that it had the desired effect.

And what is this “senior” talk? Would it have been OK had he sledged “juniors”? I mean, come on, this is no army camp that he should stop in his run up and salute when bowling to Sachin or Sehwag just because they are senior to him. By that measure he should show respect to even the likes of Lara and Inzamam, because they are also “seniors”. Once on the field, your opponent is just that. You dont need to know care how experienced he is or about his image or whether you play for the same team otherwise. Actually its nice to see someone being so charged up for a Challenger Series match. I think that speaks a lot about his attitude and being dropped from the Champions Trophy must have also played its part.

I really dont think Sachin, Sehwag or Bhajji would have taken this bit of aggression from Sree the wrong way. They are seasoned customers. As Sree himself says here, its really not an issue. But what I find baffling is the way media is portraying it. Killer instinct anyone? First get rid of that parochial coat, I say.