In the movie Chak De Shahrukh Khan tells his team to drop manners and play as rough as the opponent team: woh ek maare, tum do maaro, woh do maare, tum chaar maaro........(they hit you once, you hit twice, they hit you twice, you hit four times.....).
Dhoni gives free rein to his boys to handle sledging the way they wish to. Australians sledge and Indians sledge back.

This
is not an article about the rise of aggression in Indian sports
heralding birth of a new era, this is about how sports have changed
where physical fitness is the key to performance.....talent alone is not enough you have to learn to tackle injuries game induced or opponent induced and also the fame and money.

Sachin
today plays far far more cricket than the Don, faces more injuries
than  the Don ever imagned. He doesnt have to endure sledging by the
Australian team because of his stature. He has to handle the
aspirations of the milions. Todays player can never be a cricketer alone: he automatically becomes a celebrity, a model, a brand ambassador-
whether he wants it or not. He performs well and money comes flowing
in- look at Ishant Sharma! I am not saying whether Sachin is greater
than Bradman, his average wont equal the Don’s ever (you can dig the
stats at various sites) but the challenegs he is facing are much much
more.

Similar is the case of Pele and Maradona, it is stupid
to compare them by the number of goals, no of goal/appearance etc
because the two belong to different times. Did Pele play with the
press scrutinizing his every move? with the opponents out to injure you
out for good? with so much money for easy taking? when the game ceases
to be an art blossoming in a natural talent.
We can only speculate if Pele would have responded with a headbutt a la Zidane in a Soccer World Cup final.

The
sports have changed from a talent based arena to where the talent alone
is not enough- look at Brian Lara, people might argue as to who is
better him or Sachin. But one thing is indisputable - he can never
match Sachin’s stature. While Sachin has mainatained an unblemished
reputation as a sensible, grounded person. And this makes him far more
remarakable than other sportspersons- to live with this amount of fame
and money and not allow it to got to his head.

PS- please feel free to pitch in with your examples- for or against ;)