5 Controversies that rocked Indian cricket

2. Monkey gate, Sydney 2008

“Losing 2005 (Ashes series) was a tough one to handle but I was in full control of that. But I wasn’t in full control of what happened at the end of the whole Monkeygate thing and Andrew Symonds wasn’t in control of what the result of that was either,” Ricky Ponting recently said according to Fox Sports.

Twelve years after that infamous scandal in Sydney, Ricky Ponting was asked about the lowest point of his career and the former World Cup-winning captain had no hesitation in pointing out the ‘Monkeygate’ saga as the nadir of his storied career.

From the very outset, the New Year Test at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground was marred with controversies. Frequent howlers from Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor had enraged the Indians, and it all came to a head on the final day when the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly once again found themselves on the wrong side of the decisions.

After Michael Clarke controversially caught Ganguly at slips, Benson resorted to asking Ponting, who raised his finger to signal out. As many as nine decisions went against the Indians and Infuriated India captain Anil Kumble went on to say in the press conference that “only one team had played in the spirit of the game.”

Infuriated Indians demanded the removal of Bucknor from the rest of the series but apart from the controversy surrounding the umpiring howlers, an Armageddon ensued when Andrew Symonds accused Harbhajan Singh of hurling a racial slur at him. The turbinator was handed a three-Test ban, which further infuriated the visitors.

However, the ban was suspended as India appealed the original verdict after threatening to call-off the tour entirely. The ICC formed a disciplinary committee which eventually exonerated Harbhajan from the racial charges. As far as the series is concerned, a determined Indian side pulled off a major heist by defeating the Aussies in Perth to shellack the defending champions’ sixteen-match winning streak.