Atherton's interesting finish to his article.

[MechEng]

And no more Sehwag trolling, yes he SUCKS right now. But the fact that we were number one was because of him and Zak's bowling..... Not that I'm saying Sehwag is better than Sachin and Dravid, but he was the one who took the leadership role for our climb to number one....... Haters gonna hate....

[diga]

It's one thing to castigate commentators and totally another thing to live in denial and form weird notions of yourself to prove you were better than the other.

Nobody is living in denial here... While we understand Athertons frustration with Internet trolls mainly from India clogging twitter & comments section of online articles, Atherton too should understand that every #1 ranked team has performed well over a period of time be it England or India. A more balanced view from him without the dry humor & potshots at Indians would leave him & other english fans at peace

[Crookbond]

Nobody is living in denial here... While we understand Athertons frustration with Internet trolls mainly from India clogging twitter & comments section of online articles' date='[b'] Atherton too should understand that every #1 ranked team has performed well over a period of time be it England or India. A more balanced view from him without the dry humor & potshots at Indians would leave him & other english fans at peace

Where has he denied that?

[Crookbond]

[Ultimate_Game]

:hysterical::hysterical: I kid you not. This is what he has wrote in the times today about England " there is no doubt that when the pitches are slow and low, England are a more vulnerable team. They have lost five out of nine tests in such conditions, a statistic that brought the internet trolls out on monday evening, but it should not be forgotten thats England have their No 1 ranking on merit, by some outstanding cricket over a period of nearly three years." Expect some vindicative article by this loser in coming weeks against India. In another who sees the crusade against India as a battle of good versus evil!!!

But wasn't the same true for India as well when they were widely panned for #1 ranking and everyone said, especially Englishmen including Atherton, that India didn't deserve to be #1? Didn't India deserve the ranking on merit on the back of some outstanding cricket? Were India simply gifted the rank? Didn't India beat Eng in Eng in 2007, drew with SA in SA in 2010, narrowly lost to Aus 1-2 in Aus in 2008, and beat all and sundry at home? Wasn't this record good enough for India to be top ranked? It's funny Atherton never thought these points when it applied to India and when Indians or others bring out the same point for England they are termed trolls. Yup, I know who the real troll & muppet is in this case and it's Mike "double standards" Atherton :giggle:

[Crookbond]

But wasn't the same true for India as well when they were widely panned for #1 ranking and everyone said' date=' especially Englishmen including Atherton, that India didn't deserve to be #1? Didn't India deserve the ranking on merit on the back of some outstanding cricket? Were India simply gifted the rank? Didn't India beat Eng in Eng in 2007, drew with SA in SA in 2010, narrowly lost to Aus 1-2 in Aus in 2008, and beat all and sundry at home? Wasn't this record good enough for India to be top ranked? It's funny Atherton never thought these points when it applied to India and when Indians or others bring out the same point for England they are termed trolls. Yup, I know who the real troll & muppet is in this case and it's Mike "[i']double standards" Atherton :giggle:

I doubt Atherton was one of those who doubted India's No.1 status. It was more of Ian Botham.

[Ultimate_Game]

I doubt Atherton was one of those who doubted India's No.1 status. It was more of Ian Botham.

It was Atherton along with Vaughan, Hussain, Lloyd and rest of the gang. The way Atherton used to pass snide remarks against India, though not as openly as some of the other, told you what his thoughts were about the topic.

[J P K]

[Crookbond]

It was Atherton along with Vaughan' date=' Hussain, Lloyd and rest of the gang. The way Atherton used to pass snide remarks against India, though not as openly as some of the other, told you what his thoughts were about the topic.[/quote'] Na U_G, I can assure you Atherton is not one amongst them. Hussain apart from that one conkeys comment has been ok too - so is LLoyd. A lot of those comments are misinterpreted in the mainstream media. The only one who has vendetta is Ian Botham. The rest of the gang you refer are just putting up their opinions. They are never "brushing" away India as No. 1 apart from Botham

[Ultimate_Game]

Na U_G' date=' I can assure you Atherton is not one amongst them. Hussain apart from that one conkeys comment has been ok too - so is LLoyd. A lot of those comments are misinterpreted in the mainstream media. The only one who has vendetta is Ian Botham. The rest of the gang you refer are just putting up their opinions. They are never "brushing" away India as No. 1 apart from Botham [/quote'] I didn't see Atherton refute any of the comments made by his counterparts, or take offence to the sort of comments/articles against India the way he has done right now. So if he has come out calling people who have made the same argument against England what his fellow countrymen did against India trolls, where was he last year? Why didn't he say anything when all that "trolling" was going on? As I said he has double standards.

[Cricket Tragic]

:giggle:

[jind]

The rankings are for a period of 2-3 years and not necessarily show the current form. For example, if a #1 Team loses to a #2 team, then obviously some people will raise a few eyebrows.

[SLICKR392]

Lol... :cantstop:

[ravishingravi]

He is in denial mode. Something I ll also say for lot of Indian fans.

[JaFanatic]

[audioman]

I like both Atherton and Hussain. They are refreshing additions to Sky's commentary team that was on its way to slow death. They both say it like it is, and are opinionated enough, but unlike Gavaskar or Botham, they can actually back their opinions. I don't see anything wrong in what Atherton states here. It is, but, one test match. Its not like England got whitewashed already. Let's wait till the series ends.

[Ultimate_Game]

I like both Atherton and Hussain. They are refreshing additions to Sky's commentary team that was on its way to slow death. They both say it like it is' date=' and are opinionated enough, but unlike Gavaskar or Botham, they can actually back their opinions. I don't see anything wrong in what Atherton states here. It is, but, one test match. Its not like England got whitewashed already. Let's wait till the series ends.[/quote'] The problem is with the double standards. Atherton is saying that England deserves to be top ranked based on the hard work they had put in over the last 3 years despite Eng losing 5 of the last 9 Tests, and is calling the folks who are saying Eng doesn't deserve to be ranked #1 as trolls. But when the same thing happened to India where was this argument? As I pointed out in one of my earlier threads didn't India deserve to be ranked 1 based on their last 3 years efforts before the Eng series? I didn't see him those calling for India not deserving of #1 rank as trolls.

[Crookbond]

I didn't see Atherton refute any of the comments made by his counterparts' date=' or take offence to the sort of comments/articles against India the way he has done right now. [b']So if he has come out calling people who have made the same argument against England what his fellow countrymen did against India trolls, where was he last year? Why didn't he say anything when all that "trolling" was going on? As I said he has double standards.

He's talking about Internet trolls who are abusing Lloyd, Michael Vaughan on Twitter. Which trolling are you talking about?

[Crookbond]

The problem is with the double standards. Atherton is saying that England deserves to be top ranked based on the hard work they had put in over the last 3 years despite Eng losing 5 of the last 9 Tests' date=' and is calling the folks who are saying Eng doesn't deserve to be ranked #1 as trolls. But when the same thing happened to India where was this argument? As I pointed out in one of my earlier threads didn't India deserve to be ranked 1 based on their last 3 years efforts before the Eng series? I didn't see him those calling for India not deserving of #1 rank as trolls.[/quote'] UG - Common! Atherton serves the Sky Sports team which covers English cricket and so he will write about England cricket team. I don't see why he will comment on India unless we are touring there. In addition, he never ever said India didn't deserve to be number 1 which is consistent with his point now. You are generalizing what Botham said to all English commentators IMHO. There's absolutely no inconsistency.

[audioman]

^ Exactly, why expect him to write about India? Plus, here is the thing. Most things about India were said towards the end of the series against England. After they had been whitewashed, or at least close to being whitewashed and being completely outplayed in every department. This is only one test match, too early to be calling it. Let the series end, and then we will see.