The Sydney test controversy has not done justice to Harbhajan in another way. It has not given him the credit of formulating Ponting as his 'Bunny'
The Sydney test has now become famous for all but cricketing reasons. From 2nd of January 2007 till the 6th, what crowds at SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) and people around the world on television saw was a bizarre game of cricket. The consequences of the whole controversy are being debated everywhere. Interestingly, for a writer, layman, cricketing buffs and especially dictionary publishers there is something to learn from this episode.
It has been a literal battle of words. Cricket vocabulary has fought a battle like never before. Words like 'integrity', 'team spirit', 'sportsmanship', 'racism', 'unfair', 'slur', 'monkey', 'umpiring', 'refereeing' have been at war. But the one word that has been undermined in the battle is 'bunny'. This is the most widely used word by Australian bowlers to target their opposition's top order batsmen.
To strictly go by cricketing terminology, the word 'bunny' got its recognition when England's Michael Atherton finished his career allotting world record 19 dismissals to Australian Glenn McGrath. He was closely contested by West Indies legend Brian Lara who was also dismissed a record number of times by McGrath.
Unfortunately, this term seems to have come back haunting none other than Australia's premier batsman and captain Ricky Ponting. He might deny vehemently that he is Bhajji's bunny, but Punter is left with no choice as the records are also supporting his counterpart. 'Turbanator' has got the better of Punter seven times. Whether or not he accepts it, Punter seems to be the 'bunny' in the making. Even one of his teammates are accepting that at present the Indian tweaker has got the wood over his skipper.
I wonder whether his latest dismissal to Bhajji in the second test led to his and his team's ultimate furore. No one knows whether this is true or not, but rumours and grapevines are not here to die.
