Sreesanth must check himself

One war has decisively ended in favour of Australia. With the victory in Nagpur today, Australians have clearly shown who the real champions are. They also sent a message that India's dream run in the T20 series in South Africa was more or less a flash in the pan.

Now, there is another war that is continuing. This is an ugly one; does no one any credit. It's the war of words. I wonder why cricketers are wasting time and energy on it. When they meet journalists don't they have anything else to talk, other than making statements mocking the rival team?

Look at today's statements:

• Andrew Symonds has described the ongoing tour as hostile and warned the Indian team of backlash when it tours Down Under this year. "They've beaten us in a Twenty20 game and one one-dayer in four years. You can't gauge much on that, but we'll see how this so-called new Indian team goes on our soil," he has said.

• Former Australian captain Ian Chappel has asked the BCCI to discipline Sree Santh before he becomes another Shoaib Aktar. He says Indian board shouldn't repeat their Pak counterpart's mistake of mishandling Akhtar's rage in his early days.

• The ICC has sought an explanation from the BCCI on Andrew Symond's complaint of racist chants during the Vadodara one-dayer. The Aussie all-rounder had spoken of `monkey chants' from a section of the crowd when he was fielding near the boundary. The BCCI says it's yet to hear from the ICC.

I think Ian Chappel has sounded the right warning. Sreesanth seems to going overboard. He is a talented bowler who has years ahead of him. His on-field theatrics and needless aggression doesn't do him or his cricket any good.

It's not that Australians are angels on the field. But we must remember that players are there in the middle to play cricket and not engage in theatrical antics. If Indian players have a genuine complaint, ICC has well-established procedures to take care of it.

Sree's argument that it's in his nature to behave the way he does, is no justification. Post-victory jubilation is understandable, but definitely not anything beyond that. What are we arrogant about? Not even our cricket!

Indians should keep their mouth shut. Let their game do the talking.