"I first thought he was joking," said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni of the embarrassing episode. "Then I saw that he was serious with the appeal. I told him that this was not the way to get batsmen out, that he should look for other methods to get wickets. He was playing at home, he was excited and fired up.

"But if you observe closely, there are quite a few changes in him between say the tour of South Africa that ended in January and now. The more he plays, the more mature he will become."

Understandably, Australian skipper Adam Gilchrist was not amused by what he clearly felt was a cheap-shot attempt at getting a wicket.

"There's a fine line between stupidity and the spirit of cricket. You can judge for yourself," said the man who would appear to have taken it upon himself -- rightly or otherwise -- to preserve the spirit of cricket.
"Sreesanth has been quite outspoken about how he was going to take the challenge to us," Gilchrist continued, clearly affronted that somebody could even attempt to beat the Aussies at their own game. "He's said a lot in the press and we see it. That's fine. We're not questioning that. That's no doubt the way he wants to play cricket. When we get our chance, we'll play aggressive cricket too." And he sure wasn't talking about aggression with bat or ball.

Australia have tended to believe that, since they are the world leaders on the field itself, they must set the trend off it too. There is no excusing Sreesanth's pathetic attempt at getting his own back at a marauding Symonds. The fact of the matter is that holier-than-thou is an easy cloak to wear. As Gilchrist showed when, having seen on the giant screen that umpire Shastri had made a wrong no-ball against James Hopes, he charged down the pitch to forcefully make his point. Determined, of course, to keep the spirit of cricket going.

As for Sreesanth, he has to be exceptionally careful about his behaviour. Dhoni has more than hinted that he won't be surprised if, sooner rather than later, the 24-year-old picks up the odd ban for unacceptable conduct.
Less than ten days back, he was fined 25 percent of his match fee for excessive appealing in the Twenty20 semifinal against Australia. It is more than likely that he won't get off as lightly at the next hearing which, from all accounts, isn't too far away.