PERTH: The present tour of the Indian team to Australia is not only a disaster from cricketing point of view but it is also turning out to be a catastrophe as far as public manners go.
Paceman Ishant Sharma showed his middle finger to the assembled cricket fans as he along with his teammates, went to do go-karting at a local club, Indian television channels reported on Monday.
Quite a few Indian cricketers, including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, went for go karting and were apparently ruffled to see a posse of TV cameras and media persons following them in hot trail.
Despite all attempts to keep the media out of bounds, they could have their pictures and videos much to the cricketers’ annoyance. It apparently led to Sharma showing his middle finger to a heckling crowd which had also gathered there, the reports claimed.
It’s the second time when an Indian cricketer has shown his middle finger at fans during the tour. Virat Kohli did so during the second Test at SCG and was fined 50 per cent of his match fees.
Indian team’s media manager GS Walia said he was not aware of any such incident. “I am not aware of any such incident (Ishant showing the middle finger)”, he said.
Walia also sprung to the defence of Indian cricketers who are being roundly criticized for attending a go-karting session instead of attending nets, saying it was a way of destressing. (PTI)