Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar’s oft-repeated salvo against sledging — especially, by the Aussies — brings to the fore the game’s ugly side, a dark syndrome that has no easy answer, nay remedy. Let’s delve into a meditation down memory lane — including the how and why of it all — even if the likes of Dennis ‘the Menace’ Lillee, for one, don’t seem to fancy Gavaskar’s — or, the game’s high priests’ — definitive stance.
Sport has always been a part of our social history. This is precisely the reason why it has been subject to enormous change, in tune with life itself. Its bottom line is a modicum of expression, also radical in its evolution. As John Arlott, the ‘Voice of Cricket,’ wrote:
Games are as truly part of the history of a nation as its work, wars, and art. They are a reflection of a social life of the people, changing with it and conditioned by its changes in economy, religion, and politics.
Perfect description, because Arlott did not only trace the origin of sport as a noble pursuit, but also stressed on compromised traditional codes of behaviour, the escalation of professionalism, and the subsequent domination of monetary, or commercial, factors.
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