Was Panesar naive or a sport?

There are saints and sinners in every sport. But still it’s baffling to see Monty Panesar being painted as the ‘naïve’ devil by England coach Andy Flower. All the left-arm spinner did was bowl to Sachin Tendulkar; it’s simple net practice as it has always been done. Only this time instead of a net bowler Tendulkar had some quality in the form of Panesar, who isn’t even part of the England squad. “He did bowl to him in the nets before Lord’s and I think it is quite a naive thing to do,” Flower said. “I haven’t spoken to him yet but one would hope he understands that it won’t happen again.” Panesar, who has played 39 Tests for England, has stated that he is doing it in spare time to improve himself against “a wonderful batsman.” [caption id=“attachment_49995” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Monty Panesar is being a good sport. Getty Images”] [/caption] Honestly, the chances of Tendulkar hitting a sweet spot just because he had a few training sessions with Panesar are remote. And perhaps, in that sense, Flower was the one who was being ‘naïve.’ Surely he would rate Tendulkar higher than that. Tendulkar’s usual preparation for any series in India is usually net sessions with an old mate of his, Jagdish Shetty, who has played club cricket. Nothing more but that’s enough for the master batsman. Flower should know this too. Perhaps, they feel that by beating Australia, they’ve earned the right to be called the ’top dogs’ and act like them too. In olden days, good sportsmanship was treasured – a gentle tap on the back; a word of praise; a beer at the end of the game… that was the camaraderie of sport. However, today, sportsmanship has essentially been replaced by gamesmanship. Some will argue that perhaps the win-at-all-costs attitude is perhaps necessary. Perhaps it is. Wins achieved in that manner will remembered for a decade or two at most, a good sport, however, is remembered forever. For instance, any sports buff will easily remember the story of Lutz Long – German, hero of Aryan youth, Hitler’s elite long jump star. During the 1936 Olympics, the great Jesse Owens was having some trouble with the qualifying in the long jump competition. He fouled on his first two jumps. One of the jumps was a practice run, but officials counted it as an attempt. With just one jump remaining, Long introduced himself and offered a suggestion to Owens – play it safe, make your mark several inches before the takeoff board and jump from there. Owens used the advice and qualified on his last jump. Later that afternoon, Long’s fifth jump matched Owens’ 25-10 in the finals. But Owens won the gold medal with a final jump of 26-5½ on his last jump. The first to congratulate Owens was Long. Was Long being naïve too? “It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler,” Owens said. “You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment. Hitler must have gone crazy watching us embrace.” Sportsmanship is knowing that it is a game and it isn’t a genre that is entirely dead. In 2001, Paolo Di Canio won the FIFA Fair Play Award. The previous December, in a match against Everton, Di Canio shunned a goal-scoring opportunity by catching the ball in front of an empty net as the Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was lying injured on the ground. Gerrard had twisted his knee while attempting a clearance on the edge of the box. FIFA described the act as “a special act of good sportsmanship.” Naïve? Flower would sure think that way. In tennis, all the top players practice against other players. Someone like Stanislaus Wawrinka, world number 10, used to practice to Roger Federer, who was then the world number one. Nothing wrong with that, if you pick up a chink in the opponents game, you can use that to your advantage. Maybe, just maybe, Panesar planned to do the same. So Panesar wasn’t being naïve. He was just being a good sport. When will the rest of England follow suit?