London, July 29: India great Sunil Gavaskar has lamented the decline in player behaviour throughout cricket, saying the sportsmanship on which the game traditionally prided itself had "gone for six". "What does it tell us to have put the spirit of cricket into black and white?", asked Gavaskar in a reference to the new section included in the sport`s rulebook.
"It tells us that the old adage that, `it`s not cricket`, which applied to just about everything in life, is no longer valid - and that`s a real pity."
"In the modern world of commercialisation of the game and the advent of satellite television and the motto of winning at all costs, sportsmanship has gone for a six."
Gavaskar, who made a world record 34 test hundreds, was speaking at Lord`s yesterday where he was delivering the annual Cowdrey lecture set up by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in honour of the late former England captain Colin Cowdrey.
Gavaskar added that coaches had to tell children, "while the kids are at an impressionable age, that cricket has been played for years without indulging in personal abuse."

Bureau Report