Written by: Pranjal Khatiwoda - 2022013, Grade X
Posted on: 23 November, 2020
Back then, India was touring Australia for a Test Series. India was coming from a fresh defeat against Australia, losing the Melbourne Test Match. A lot of controversies arose in that Test Match. The Sydney Test Match is often regarded as the “Monkeygate Scandal”. It was said that the Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds was called “Monkey” by the Indian off-spinner Harbajan Singh. Such racist comments were not allowed at all. Harbajan was banned for the upcoming 3 tests, but India appealed to leave the series and Harbajan denied calling Symonds “monkey”, which resulted in the overturn of the ban that was alleged against Harbajan.
It was very important for India to win and play quality cricket in Sydney after the loss in Melbourne. They had a perfect start in the 1st innings as Australia collapsed in the first session. But it was the infamous “Steve Bucknor” decisions who overturned the Out decisions to Not-Out. The Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds was caught behind in the ball bowled by Ishant Sharma but the decision was still not in India’s favor. Andrew Symonds and Australian Captain Ricky Ponting steadied the ship with luck in favor of them as a lot of “Out” decisions were overturned. Australia recovered from 163/6 ko 463 all out in the first innings as Andrew Symonds scored a brilliant “162 not out”. The odds were not in favor with the bat too for India as India’s opening batsman Wasim Jaffer was given out off a no-ball (another umpiring misjudgment). Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman batted beautifully as they both scored a century each. At that time, the Australian crowd used to believe that Sachin Tendulkar may not play in Australia again, so he got standing ovations at every shot he played. The Little Master made a lot of runs in that series, all over Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and entertained the crowd. With the likes of Sachin, Laxman, Ganguly, Dravid, Harbajan. India got a good 2nd innings lead as they ended their 1st innings with 532 all out. The main drama was about to begin.
The match referee “Mike Procter” alleged the use of a racist comment on Harbajan. The Indian dressing team was quite unhappy with it. Australian media were backing Australian players and Indian media backing their players. The Commentators were also declaring that the decision was not true, India was getting false allegations regarding it but none of the Australian Cricket Board spoke a word on it. After all these things, Australia came to bat in the 2nd innings and declared at 401/7. India was called by Australia to bat on the last day chasing a target of 333. The decisions were still not in the fair of India as Rahul Dravid was given out caught behind which was seen that the ball hit the pad. There was not a single chance of chasing 333 on the last day with just about 75 overs left in the play. Saurav Ganguly was playing beautifully on the other end, and India was focusing on ending the Test Match as a draw. The wrong decision was still haunting India as Ganguly was given out on a ball that was caught after it landed on the ground, which was properly a not-out case. The Australian skipper who was fielding at slip, also claimed the catch to be fair with Michael Clarke. And, it was that era where when a fielder claims the catch, “It’s out”. The umpire could have easily gone for the review, but they didn’t. Ganguly was given a false out for the catch. The Indian media showed the footage that it was a false catch, the ball clearly grounded the ground and there was still a lot of drama going on. The match progressed further and it came to just surviving 2 overs with 3 wickets in hand. India was comfortably in a position of closing that test match as a draw. Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain threw the ball to Michael Clarke in the 2nd last over of the day, and the unexpected thing happened, he took 3 wickets in a single over, and India lost the Test Match with an over to spare. The match was all done and dusted.
The time comes for a press conference where an Indian reporter asked the Australian Skipper that they didn’t show the sportsman spirit throughout the game. At that time Ponting was leading a team with a goal to “WIN”. No matter what the situation, they stepped on the field to win, just win. Ponting arrogantly answered the question asked by the reporter. Then, the Indian Skipper came to the press conference where he was asked the same question and he answered that “ In this test match, there was only a team who were playing fair and that was India”. India was out with the series already 2-0. A hearing was organized by the Cricket board regarding the issues between Andrew Symonds and Harbajan Singh. The hearing lasted for around 6-7 hours. Harbajan was banned for three test matches as given by the Match Referee Mike Proc
