Aussies could get whacked in a bar: Gavaskar

New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) Adding more acrimony to the ongoing spat between him and Ricky Ponting, Sunil Gavaskar has struck back with a stinging rejoinder, saying a ''hot head guy'' might actually whack the Australian cricketers if they dared replicate their on-field behaviour in a bar.

Gavaskar had earlier said that Ponting's all-conquering side was unpopular because of ''awful'' on the field behaviour and not only fellow competitors but the followers of the game were ''gladdened'' after Australia lost five straight matches to England and New Zealand.

Ponting responded in an Australian newspaper column by labelling the Indian batting legend a hypocrite and asking him to mind his own business.

While participating in sports channel ESPN's breakfast show 'Taking Guard', Gavaskar, however, stuck to his guns and added more fire to the acrimonious spat, saying, ''Some day, some other hot head guy might actually get down and you know whack somebody who abuses him.'' He cited the example of former Australian cricketer David Hookes, who had been fatally beaten up outside a bar.

''There's the example of the late David Hookes. Would the Australians who use that kind of language on the field, and not all of them do, in a bar and would they get away with it? Would they have a fist coming at their face or not?" the former Indian captain said in an unrepentent rejoinder to Ponting's response.

He also defended his decision to walk out of the MCG in protest against an lbw decision in 1981, an incident that Ponting had alluded to while reacting to Gavaskar's statements on on-field behaviour.

''The reason the walk off took place was simply because I was abused by the Australians. Let me also come back to what he (Ponting) said about, the way I played my cricket and I do not know what he's looking at.

''When he talks about the Indian team not having won matches, we are not talking about winning matches here, we are talking about behavior on the field,'' he said.

Gavaskar drew a comparison between the Australians and the West Indies side of the 1970s and 1980s, adding that the players from the Caribbean were more popular champions.

''The West Indians were popular winners, there was an affection about the West Indians players in spite of the fact that they were beating you in three days.

''They (West Indians) did not abuse the opponents.They did not have anything to say to the opponents. When they were dominating world cricket the West Indians did not resort to personal abuse on the field, they just played the game hard, they were very tough competitors but there was nothing untoward in their behaviour towards their opponents.

''West Indian players always had a smile on their face when they came in at the end of day's play to talk with you and to commiserate when you lost, you could see that there was no arrogance there.

Cricket lovers all over the world wanted the West Indies teams to get back on their feet and start winning again,'' the former India opening bat said.

UNI