The ugly face of the invincible Aussies

New Delhi: They are the world champions, the Aussies.

The team comprises a group of very talented cricketers and over the years, the team has changed the dynamics of the game. But the flip side of the coin shows a completely different face of this team.

They are aggressive, they are attacking and, at times, even cocky. It's winning which matters most to them, even if it's by hook, or sometimes, by crook.

An instance in point is Ponting's appeal against Dhoni on the final day of the Sydney Test, when the Australian skipper had clearly grounded the ball.

At the following press conference, when he was asked if he was sure that he had caught the ball cleanly, he was even more scathing.

"Sorry, I think you have got something wrong. There's no way that I would have grounded that ball and I think if you are actually questioning my integrity in the game, you should not be standing here. What I did in the first innings doesn't that explain the way I play the game. Well, okay, I am 100 per cent sure of that catch of Dhoni today. As it turned out, he wasn't given not out. Am I right or wrong?" Ponting had angrily replied .

This and other controversies have now put the Aussies' sportsmanship under the scanner and these instances have, in fact, put a huge question mark over their approach to the game.

"Everyone saw what was happening. Only one team was playing in the spirit of the game," a dejected Indian skipper Anil Kumble said at the post-match press conference, referring to the behaviour of the Aussie cricketers.

Even the Australian media has now come out in the open to criticise the baggy greens.

"Ponting must be sacked as captain. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players in the past few days. He turned a group of professional cricketers into a pack of wild dogs," Peter Roebuck, one of the world's best-known cricket writers, wrote on Monday.

Even during the 2006 Champions Trophy, the invincible Aussies had earned the reputation of being ugly and boorish for similar behaviour on the field.

And on Sunday, even a record 16th consecutive Test win couldn't outweigh the ugly side of the mighty Aussies.