Second Test, 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy

The Second Test in the Indian cricket team's tour of Australia for the 2007–08 summer was a controversial Test cricket

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

match played over five days at the Sydney Cricket Ground

Sydney Cricket Ground

The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

from 2 to 6 January 2008. Australia won the match by 122 runs with minutes to spare at the end of the fifth day.

The match attained notoriety owing to the number of umpiring

Umpire (cricket)

In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...

mistakes made by international umpires Steve Bucknor

Steve Bucknor

The Honourable Stephen Anthony Bucknor OJ, also known as Steve Bucknor, is a former international cricket umpire. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 31 May 1946. He became a high school mathematics teacher and sports coach, before becoming an international football referee and a cricket umpire...

and Mark Benson

Mark Benson

Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

and accusations of poor sportsmanship against both teams. The match ended in a dramatic defeat of the Indian team in the final ten minutes of the five-day match, with some commentators suggesting that the umpiring mistakes had a major impact on the course of the match. The result ensured that Australia retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Border-Gavaskar Trophy

The Border–Gavaskar Trophy is a Test cricket series, played between India and Australia. It has witnessed some of the most competitive Test series played in recent years, with results usually either being a narrow win for one of the sides or a closely fought draw...

, as well as taking Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting

Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...

's team to 16 consecutive Test wins, equalling the previous Test record, also held by Australia under Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh

Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...

. The controversy was termed by parts of the media as Bollyline, a reference to the 1930s controversy Bodyline

Bodyline

Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...

. The name, a portmanteau of Bodyline

Bodyline

and Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

, is tongue in cheek, but by referencing Bodyline, hints at the potential seriousness of the rift between the Indians and Australians. Indeed, according to Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh

Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...

, the affair "now has the potential to affect relations between the countries".

The Test itself was tightly contested, setting up a fifth (final) day in which the match could have been won by either team, but was most likely to be drawn. The match featured centuries

Century (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...

by batsmen on every day of the match. Three four-wicket hauls were achieved and Brett Lee

Brett Lee

Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...

achieved a five-wicket haul in the first innings. Both Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...

and Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke (cricketer)

Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...

were, at individual points in the game, on a hat-trick

Hat-trick

A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...

. All rounder

All-rounder

An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...

Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

was at the centre of much of the action, achieving 162*

Not out

In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...

and 61 with the bat and taking 3/51 in India's second innings. Symonds was awarded man of the match

Man of the match

In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...

.

Controversies abounded; as well as the multiple umpiring incidents that were placed in the spotlight by the narrowness of the victory, Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....

was charged with racial abuse in an altercation with Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

. Harbhajan was banned by the match referee Mike Procter

Mike Procter

Michael John Procter is a former South African cricketer. A fast bowler and hard hitting batsman, his chances for a long and productive test career were wrecked by South Africa's banishment from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s...

for three test matches although the charges were downgraded on 2008-01-29 to the lesser charge of using abusive language and the ban was lifted. The Indian team had earlier protested and threatened to pull out of the tour. The match produced bitterness on both sides and an announcement by the Indian team that they would abandon their tour, followed by dramatic intervention by the International Cricket Council

International Cricket Council

The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...

(ICC).

Context

Australia had won the First Test played the previous week at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

by a margin of 337 runs, needing only four days to secure victory. Australia were seeking a 16th consecutive Test win to equal the record set by Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh

Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...

's team between late-1999 and early-2001.

The first match had led to media consternation about the appropriateness of India's batting strategy. Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid

Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

had been promoted up the batting order from No. 3 to open along with Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler.-Early years:...

, while regular opener Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik

Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik is a wicketkeeper-batsman who has made his debut for the Indian cricket team in 2004 and has been a regular member of the team for varying periods since then, including a stint in 2007 as a specialist opening batsman and non-wicket-keeper...

was dropped prior to the First Test. This was done to create a middle-order vacancy for Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh Bhandal is an Indian cricketer, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008...

, who had scored a century in India's previous Test, when he substituted for the injured Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

. During the First Test, both Dravid and Jaffer failed to pass 20 in either innings, with the former attracting attention for his particularly slow and defensive approach. This allowed the Australian bowling to assert control over the Indian batsmen from the outset and prevent them from gaining the momentum at the outset. Yuvraj also failed; he was particularly fidgety in scoring 0 and 5. The failures of the rearranged line-up prompted calls for the return of Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag , affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler...

, who had been taken on tour as the reserve opener. Sehwag had been dropped from the side in early-2007 and had been unproductive in recent Ranji Trophy

Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...

matches in India; however, his extremely aggressive approach had been successful against Australia in the past and cricket pundits felt that he could counter-attack the Australian bowlers, rather than letting their new ball attack seize the initiative. Jaffer, Dravid and Yuvraj were all mooted as possible omissions to make way for Sehwag.

Australia fielded an unchanged XI, whereas India made one change: the injured Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan is an Indian cricketer who has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000. A left arm fast bowler considered as the best of the Indian fast bowling attack, Zaheer is known for his ability to swing the ball both ways, and as a batsman also holds the record for the highest Test...

was replaced by fellow paceman Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He has a high arm delivery action and is not a swinger of the ball but depends a lot on pace and movement off the seam....

, a 19-year-old playing in his third international test match.

The match was preceded by speculation as to how attractive the play would be. The First Test was played on a pitch that was slow and somewhat irregular in behaviour, and the commentators were optimistic that the Second Test would lead to more attractive batting, particularly from the Indians, who had amassed 7/705 and 2/211 in their previous outing in 2003–04. Tendulkar (148* in 1991-92, 241* in 2003-04) and V. V. S. Laxman

V. V. S. Laxman

Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman , sometimes shortened to Venkatsai Laxman but generally known as V.V.S. Laxman, is an Indian cricketer. Laxman represents Hyderabad in domestic cricket and has played for Lancashire in English county cricket. Laxman is the great grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli...

(167 in 1999-2000, 178 in 2003-04) had both scored much-lauded Test centuries at the ground.

Scorecard

Match referee	Mike Procter Mike Procter Michael John Procter is a former South African cricketer. A fast bowler and hard hitting batsman, his chances for a long and productive test career were wrecked by South Africa's banishment from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s...
Field umpires	Steve Bucknor Steve Bucknor The Honourable Stephen Anthony Bucknor OJ, also known as Steve Bucknor, is a former international cricket umpire. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 31 May 1946. He became a high school mathematics teacher and sports coach, before becoming an international football referee and a cricket umpire... Mark Benson Mark Benson Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....
Third umpire	Bruce Oxenford Bruce Oxenford Bruce Nicholas James Oxenford is an Australian cricket umpire.-Playing career:Oxenford played in eight first-class matches for Queensland during the 1991/92 and 1992/93 seasons.-Umpiring career:...
Toss	elected to bat first
Result	win by 122 runs
Series impact	lead 4 match series 2-0
Man of the Match	Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

Australian innings

	First Innings		Second Innings
Batsman	Method of dismissal Dismissal (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a dismissal occurs when the batsman is out . Colloquially, the fielding team is also said to have snared, bagged or captured a wicket. At this point a batsman must discontinue batting and leave the field permanently for the innings...	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...	Method of dismissal Dismissal (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a dismissal occurs when the batsman is out . Colloquially, the fielding team is also said to have snared, bagged or captured a wicket. At this point a batsman must discontinue batting and leave the field permanently for the innings...	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
P. A. Jaques Phil Jaques Philip Anthony Jaques is an Australian cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman who has played first-class cricket for New South Wales, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire and Worcestershire, as well as international cricket for Australia...	c Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He made his One Day International debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC... b Bowling (cricket) In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder... R. P. Singh	0	c Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Bhandal is an Indian cricketer, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008... b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	42
M. L. Hayden Matthew Hayden Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record...	c Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket... b R. P. Singh	13	c Jaffer Wasim Jaffer Wasim Jaffer is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler.-Early years:... b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	123
* Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... R. T. Ponting Ricky Ponting Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....	55	c Laxman V. V. S. Laxman Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman , sometimes shortened to Venkatsai Laxman but generally known as V.V.S. Laxman, is an Indian cricketer. Laxman represents Hyderabad in domestic cricket and has played for Lancashire in English county cricket. Laxman is the great grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli... b Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....	1
M. E. K. Hussey Michael Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective...	c Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket... b R. P. Singh	41	not out Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...	145
M. J. Clarke Michael Clarke (cricketer) Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....	1	c Dravid Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers... b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	0
A. Symonds Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....	not out Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...	162	c Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He made his One Day International debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC... b R. P. Singh	61
+ Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... A. C. Gilchrist Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national...	c Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket... b R. P. Singh	7	c Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Bhandal is an Indian cricketer, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008... b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	1
G. B. Hogg Brad Hogg George Bradley "Brad" Hogg , is an Australian cricketer currently listed with the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League. He is a left-arm chinaman bowler, and a capable lower-order left-handed batsman, as well as an excellent fielder....	c Dravid Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers... b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	79	c Dravid Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers... b Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....	1
B. Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	59	not out Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...	4
M. G. Johnson Mitchell Johnson (cricketer) Mitchell Guy Johnson is an Australian cricketer. He is a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman. He was awarded the International Cricket Council's 2009 "Cricketer of the Year" award, the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.-Career:...	c Ganguly b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	28		–
S. R. Clark Stuart Clark Stuart Rupert Clark is an Australian International cricketer who plays domestic cricket for the New South Wales Blues. He plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler...	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	0		–
Extras Extra (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an extra is a run scored by a means other than a batsman hitting the ball.Other than runs scored off the bat from a no ball, a batsman is not given credit for extras and the extras are tallied separately on the scorecard and count only towards the team's score...		18		23
Total	(112.3 overs Over (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate.... )	463	(7 wickets declared Declaration and forfeiture In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket... ; 107 overs)	401

	First Innings				Second Innings
Bowler	Overs Over (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....	Maidens	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...	Wicket Wicket In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch... s	Overs Over (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....	Maidens	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...	Wicket Wicket In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch... s
R. P. Singh	26	3	124	4	16	2	74	1
I. Sharma Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He has a high arm delivery action and is not a swinger of the ball but depends a lot on pace and movement off the seam....	23	3	87	0	14	2	59	0
S. C. Ganguly Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...	6	1	13	0	–	–	–	–
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....	27	3	108	2	33	6	92	2
A. Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	25.3	0	106	4	40	3	148	4
S. R. Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...	5	0	14	0	2	0	6	0
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Bhandal is an Indian cricketer, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008...	–	–	–	–	2	0	11	0

Indian innings

	First Innings		Second Innings (target 333)
Batsman	Method of dismissal Dismissal (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a dismissal occurs when the batsman is out . Colloquially, the fielding team is also said to have snared, bagged or captured a wicket. At this point a batsman must discontinue batting and leave the field permanently for the innings...	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...	Method of dismissal Dismissal (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a dismissal occurs when the batsman is out . Colloquially, the fielding team is also said to have snared, bagged or captured a wicket. At this point a batsman must discontinue batting and leave the field permanently for the innings...	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
W. Jaffer Wasim Jaffer Wasim Jaffer is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler.-Early years:...	b Bowling (cricket) In the sport of cricket, bowling is the action of propelling the ball toward the wicket defended by a batsman. A player skilled at bowling is called a bowler; a bowler who is also a competent batsman is known as an all-rounder... Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	3	[2] c Clarke Michael Clarke (cricketer) Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler... b Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	0
R. Dravid Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...	c Hayden Matthew Hayden Matthew Lawrence Hayden AM is a former Australian cricketer, and was signed to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL until the 2010 season. Hayden is a powerful and aggressive left-handed opening batsman, known for his ability to score quickly at both Test and one day levels.Hayden holds the record... b Johnson Mitchell Johnson (cricketer) Mitchell Guy Johnson is an Australian cricketer. He is a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman. He was awarded the International Cricket Council's 2009 "Cricketer of the Year" award, the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.-Career:...	53	[1] c Gilchrist Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national... b Symonds Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....	38
V. V. S. Laxman V. V. S. Laxman Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman , sometimes shortened to Venkatsai Laxman but generally known as V.V.S. Laxman, is an Indian cricketer. Laxman represents Hyderabad in domestic cricket and has played for Lancashire in English county cricket. Laxman is the great grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli...	c Hussey Michael Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective... b Hogg Brad Hogg George Bradley "Brad" Hogg , is an Australian cricketer currently listed with the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League. He is a left-arm chinaman bowler, and a capable lower-order left-handed batsman, as well as an excellent fielder....	109	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Clark Stuart Clark Stuart Rupert Clark is an Australian International cricketer who plays domestic cricket for the New South Wales Blues. He plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler...	20
S. R. Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...	not out Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...	154	b Clark Stuart Clark Stuart Rupert Clark is an Australian International cricketer who plays domestic cricket for the New South Wales Blues. He plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler...	12
S. C. Ganguly	c Hussey Michael Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective... b Hogg Brad Hogg George Bradley "Brad" Hogg , is an Australian cricketer currently listed with the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League. He is a left-arm chinaman bowler, and a capable lower-order left-handed batsman, as well as an excellent fielder....	67	c Clarke Michael Clarke (cricketer) Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler... b Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	51
Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh Bhandal is an Indian cricketer, and the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi movie star Yograj Singh. He has been a member of the Indian cricket team since 2000 and played his first Test match in 2003. He was the vice captain of the ODI team from late-2007 to late-2008...	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	12	c Gilchrist Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national... b Symonds Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....	0
+ Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... M. S. Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He made his One Day International debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC...	c Gilchrist Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national... b Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	2	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Symonds Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....	35
* Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... A. Kumble Anil Kumble Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...	c Gilchrist Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national... b Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	2	not out Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...	45
Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....	c Hussey Michael Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective... b Johnson Mitchell Johnson (cricketer) Mitchell Guy Johnson is an Australian cricketer. He is a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman. He was awarded the International Cricket Council's 2009 "Cricketer of the Year" award, the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.-Career:...	63	c Hussey Michael Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective... b Clarke Michael Clarke (cricketer) Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...	7
R. P. Singh	c Gilchrist Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national... b Clark Stuart Clark Stuart Rupert Clark is an Australian International cricketer who plays domestic cricket for the New South Wales Blues. He plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler...	13	lbw Leg before wicket In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's... b Clarke Michael Clarke (cricketer) Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...	0
I. Sharma Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He has a high arm delivery action and is not a swinger of the ball but depends a lot on pace and movement off the seam....	c & b Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	23	c Hussey Michael Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective... b Clarke Michael Clarke (cricketer) Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...	0
Extras Extra (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an extra is a run scored by a means other than a batsman hitting the ball.Other than runs scored off the bat from a no ball, a batsman is not given credit for extras and the extras are tallied separately on the scorecard and count only towards the team's score...		18		23
Total	(138.2 overs Over (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate.... )	532	(70.5 overs)	210

	First Innings				Second Innings
Bowler	Overs Over (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....	Maidens	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...	Wicket Wicket In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch... s	Overs Over (cricket) In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....	Maidens	Runs Run (cricket) In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...	Wicket Wicket In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch... s
B. Lee Brett Lee Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...	32.2	5	119	5	13	3	34	2
M. G. Johnson Mitchell Johnson (cricketer) Mitchell Guy Johnson is an Australian cricketer. He is a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman. He was awarded the International Cricket Council's 2009 "Cricketer of the Year" award, the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.-Career:...	37	2	148	2	11	4	33	0
S. R. Clark Stuart Clark Stuart Rupert Clark is an Australian International cricketer who plays domestic cricket for the New South Wales Blues. He plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler...	25	3	80	1	12	4	32	2
A. Symonds Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....	7	1	19	0	19	5	51	3
G. B. Hogg Brad Hogg George Bradley "Brad" Hogg , is an Australian cricketer currently listed with the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League. He is a left-arm chinaman bowler, and a capable lower-order left-handed batsman, as well as an excellent fielder....	30	2	121	2	14	2	55	0
M. J. Clarke Michael Clarke (cricketer) Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...	7	1	28	0	1.5	0	5	3

Day One

Australia won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch offering some moisture and grass on the first morning, but predicted to be a good batting track for days two to three and slowly develop into a spinner's track by day five. After bowling a maiden to start the day, R. P. Singh dismissed Jaques, who was trying to square cut uppishly on the back foot, for a duck

Duck (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...

. In the ninth over of the day Hayden edged Singh to the left of the wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He made his One Day International debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC...

, who was off balance and left the catch to first slip

Slip (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a slip fielder is placed behind the batsman on the off side of the field. They are placed with the aim of catching an edged ball which is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach. Many teams employ two or three slips...

Tendulkar. Australia were 2/27 with Ponting and Hussey at the crease.

An appeal for Ponting caught down the leg side by wicket-keeper Dhoni from Ganguly when he was on just 14 was turned down by umpire Mark Benson

Mark Benson

Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

. Australia was 2/55. Just prior to lunch, with Sharma hit for 10 runs off one over, the spinners Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh

and Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble

came into the attack. Harbhajan produced a stumping opportunity against Ponting which flicked the pad and was not gloved by Dhoni, running away for two byes

Bye (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a bye is a run scored by the batting team when the ball has not been hit by the batsman and the ball has not hit the batsman's body.-Scoring byes:...

. Ponting and Hussey survived to lunch with Ponting scoring a half century and Australia 2/95.

After lunch, Ponting began looking dangerous, scoring three fours off one R. P. Singh over before he was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh for the seventh time in his career. Australia were 3/119 at the end of the 30th over. Hussey edged the first ball of the next over to Tendulkar who took a low catch at first slip, bringing Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

to the crease. Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke (cricketer)

fell in the over after not offering a shot to a straight, full ball on leg stump and being adjudged LBW

Leg before wicket

In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...

, leaving Australia at 5/121. Singh soon drew an edge from Gilchrist to Tendulkar at first slip once again, who had to dive forward to take the catch. With only one specialist batsman remaining, Australia were at 6/135, with India having very much the upper hand.

The new batsman Brad Hogg

Brad Hogg

George Bradley "Brad" Hogg , is an Australian cricketer currently listed with the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League. He is a left-arm chinaman bowler, and a capable lower-order left-handed batsman, as well as an excellent fielder....

played his natural attacking game while Symonds started slowly. The two batsmen put the pressure back on India and took the score to 6/193 in the 47th over, having scored 56 off the last 10 overs. In that over by Sharma, Symonds, then on 30, nicked the ball to wicketkeeper Dhoni, however Steve Bucknor

Steve Bucknor

did not give it out. By tea, Australia were 6/214 with Hogg on 47 and Symonds on 38.

Immediately after tea, Hogg brought up his 50 with a boundary through the gully region. In the 56th over with Australia on 6/238, Symonds was given not out by the third umpire in a close stumping call when replays suggested his back foot may have been off the ground. India's frustration increased as Symonds increased his tempo and overtook Hogg, who had stalled in the 70s. Australia's run-rate continued to rise, with singles and boundaries coming frequently. Symonds reached his century in the 70th over with Australia on 6/305 and Hogg on 78. Hogg was out two overs later, edging to Dravid at slip. Brett Lee

Brett Lee

Brett Lee is an Australian cricketer.After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket...

came in and survived until the end of the day. 19-year-old Sharma was jeered by the crowd for losing his run-up three times in one over. Australia finished the day at 7/376.

Day Two

India began the day hoping to dismiss the Australian lower order quickly. A breeze had picked up speed through the ground and those bowling form the Paddington End had the advantage of running in with the breeze and bowling faster. However, Lee continued to resist, reaching 50 from 100 balls in the 98th over. Lee eventually fell 5 overs later for 59, leaving Australia at 8/421. Mitchell Johnson

Mitchell Johnson (cricketer)

Mitchell Guy Johnson is an Australian cricketer. He is a left-arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman. He was awarded the International Cricket Council's 2009 "Cricketer of the Year" award, the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.-Career:...

made a quick 28 from 29 balls before falling to Kumble, Stuart Clark

Stuart Clark

Stuart Rupert Clark is an Australian International cricketer who plays domestic cricket for the New South Wales Blues. He plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler...

fell two overs later and Australia were all out for 463.

Jaffer and Dravid began India's innings by successfully negotiating a tricky period of three overs prior to lunch. They did not score any runs in this period. Lee was controlled and bowled two short balls at Jaffer before trapping him with a low, swinging, yorker. Replays revealed that Lee had bowled a no ball

No ball

In the sport of cricket a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team, usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. The delivery of a no ball results in one run to be added to the batting team's score, and an additional ball must be bowled...

by overstepping the bowling mark, but the umpire did not see this so India were 1/8. Laxman and Dravid consolidated the fall of the early wicket and batted steadily, although Dravid survived a catch from another no-ball, this time from Johnson. Dravid was defensive while Laxman wristily pushed the ball to the cover and midwicket boundaries. At the end of the 15th over, a Johnson over that went for 19 runs, India were 1/69 and Laxman was on 45 from only 31 balls.

After his initial fast state, Laxman settled into a more sedate rate of scoring, while Dravid continued to be slow. After one particularly long period without scoring a run, Dravid's next single was loudly greeted with ironic applause and he raised his bat to humorously acknowledge the crowd. Dravid made 55 while Laxman scored his third century in as many Tests at the SCG, but was fortunate to survive a close LBW call. The Australians took late wickets, removing both Laxman (109) and Dravid in quick succession to leave Tendulkar and Ganguly at the crease. The new pair survived to stumps with the score on 3/215.

Day Three

The day started with Tendulkar and Ganguly in an aggressive mood with both batsmen lifting Brad Hogg

Brad Hogg

for sixes and scoring many boundaries. Ganguly was particularly successful, reaching 67 from only 78 balls before lofting Hogg to mid-off against the run of play. Tendulkar was fortunate to survive a close LBW call. When Yuvraj replaced Ganguly at the crease, India's momentum slowed as he had difficulties dealing with the second new ball, before being trapped LBW. The lunch break came soon after, and Dhoni was quickly removed by Lee as was Kumble shortly after the resumption, leaving India seven wickets down and more than a hundred runs behind. Harbhajan joined Tendulkar and scored quickly to begin with, from a series of risky shots. He then settled down and began batting in a more orthodox manner, providing steady support to Tendulkar. Harbhajan and Tendulkar passed their half-century and century respectively after the tea break, as the eighth wicket partnership passed 100. It was after Harbhajan passed 50 that his altercation with Symonds occurred, leading umpire Benson to speak to Harbhajan. Harbhajan was then dismissed and India surpassed Australia's total. Singh and Sharma then scored 13 and 23 respectively before India were bowled out. Tendulkar finished with 154 not out and raised some eyebrows for continually taking the single from the first ball of the over and handing the strike to Singh and Sharma, the latter of whom had previously only scored 17 runs at Test level. India had a 69-run lead. Hayden and Jaques were unbeaten at stumps, having survived five overs.

Day Four

Australia started the day slowly as the Indian pace pair of RP Singh and Sharma bowled accurately. After a short rain delay, the Australians began to seize the initiative and soon wiped out their first innings deficit. Approaching lunch, Jaques was out to Kumble after a lofted sweep went to the fielder on the fence. Ponting came to the crease but was caught at silly point off the first ball he faced from Harbhajan, sparking major celebrations among the Indians, including two half-commando rolls from Harbhajan. After lunch, Hayden and Hussey rebuilt Australia's innings with the former scoring another hundred. Ponting acted as his runner due to an injury he collected whilst batting. Hayden was eventually dismissed by Kumble for 123 while attempting a reverse sweep. The very next ball Kumble claimed Clarke for a golden duck. Clarke stood his ground as he was caught at slip off the glove, and only walked after the umpire had given him out. On a hat trick Kumble hit Symonds on the pads sparking a loud appeal which was turned down. Symonds and Hussey saw Australia to stumps with a healthy lead.

Day Five

Australia started the final day at a slower rate than had been expected. Hussey went on to make his first century against India and finished the innings on 145 not out. Symonds also scored a half century before being caught behind trying to lift the run rate. Australia declared setting India a target of 333 to win. Some commentators such as Tony Grieg believed that Ponting had declared too late in the innings. The situation of the game meant that India needed a run rate of well over 4, highly unlikely on the fifth-day SCG pitch. Australia needed 10 wickets to win in a minimum of 72 overs.

Before lunch Jaffer fell in the first over to Lee yet again (just as in all of his innings so far on the tour). The innings resumed after lunch but India were unable to stabilise the innings, with Tendulkar and Laxman both falling cheaply, leaving Dravid and Ganguly at the crease. A crucial moment came when Dravid and Ganguly were both batting and Dravid padded up to a ball from Symonds. It was caught by Gilchrist and Dravid was given out caught behind although replays showed the ball only hitting his pad with his bat hidden behind. In the same over, the nervous Yuvraj was out for a duck, putting India five wickets down with more than a session remaining. Ganguly was the stand-out batsman scoring 51 until being adjudged caught at slips in perhaps unclear circumstances.

For a period thereafter, Dhoni and Kumble began to steady India. After surviving a few appeals and inside edges that narrowly evaded the close-in fielders at the start of their innings, they began to deal with the bowling more solidly. Dhoni adopted a strategy of padding up to as many balls from the Australian spinners as possible outside off stump, but eventually, the umpire ruled against him with less than an 40 minutes remaining. However, Harbhajan came in to join his captain and appeared comfortable.

With either 2 or 3 overs remaining on day 5 (depending on how fast the overs were bowled) the game looked certain for a draw (as India still had 3 wickets in hand and were 122 runs behind). But Clarke, in just his second over, took two wickets in consecutive balls to be on a hat-trick. The first ball of his second over reared after drawing a puff of dust, caught the shoulder of Harbhajan's bat and flew to Hussey at slip, and R. P. Singh padded up to his first ball and was adjudged lbw. There was an extensive delay as the last batsman Sharma took to the field with two right-handed gloves and had to wait for the correct glove to be brought out to him. This led to suspicion that the Sharma's actions were not accidental but a time-wasting ploy. Clarke took the final wicket, Sharma, in the same over, giving Australia victory. Kumble finished the day unbeaten on 45.

Team reactions

After the match ended the stadium erupted in cheering as the Indians walked off the field, and the Australians celebrated their record-equalling win, praising Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke (cricketer)

. In an ABC radio interview on the ground, Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting

interrupted himself to tell Clarke to tell commentator Tony Greig

Tony Greig

Anthony "Tony" William Greig is a former English Test cricketer and currently a commentator.Born in Queenstown, South Africa, Greig qualified to play for England by virtue of his Scottish father. He was a tall batting all-rounder who bowled both medium pace and off spin. He became captain of the...

that the declaration

Declaration and forfeiture

In the sport of cricket a declaration occurs when a captain declares his team's innings closed and a forfeiture is when a captain chooses to forfeit an innings. Declaration and forfeiture are covered in Law 14 of the Laws of cricket...

was timed exactly right. Gilchrist was also audibly heard shouting, "How about that declaration, Tony Greig". The Australian team did not shake hands with Indians on the field, especially Kumble who was waiting there after the fall of the final wicket. Though the teams later shook hands before heading into the dressing rooms, Kumble showed his displeasure by not shaking hands with the umpires.

India expressed their resentment by boycotting the post-match presentation ceremony. In an on-ground interview immediately after the match had finished, Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble

summed up his view of the game by stating, "Only one team is playing in the spirit of the game" - a statement that alluded to Australian captain Bill Woodfull

Bill Woodfull

William Maldon "Bill" Woodfull OBE was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victoria and Australia, and was best known for his dignified and moral conduct during the tumultuous bodyline series in 1932–33 that almost saw the end of Anglo-Australian cricketing ties...

's leaked private admonishment of English manager Sir Pelham Warner during the 1932–33 Bodyline series

Bodyline

. Chetan Chauhan

Chetan Chauhan

Chetan Pratap Singh Chauhan is a former cricketer who played 40 Test matches for India...

, India's team manager said his players were "agitated and upset by... the incompetent umpires here... [and hoped] that they will not officiate again in the series".

Ponting was questioned over the umpiring decisions, the racism row, and the wicket of Ganguly, when he held his finger up to indicate to Benson that Ganguly has been caught. Ponting was aggressive towards the Indian journalists, lashing out at them for "questioning my [Ponting's] integrity".

The Indian media did not buy Ponting's comments about Clarke's disputed catch as well as another that he claimed to have caught but was rejected by the third umpire. Some called for a ban on Ponting for appealing for what Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...

claimed was a grassed catch off Dhoni and claiming Clarke's inconclusive/grassed catch of Ganguly. In 2003, match referee Mike Procter

Mike Procter

handed a 5 ODI ban to Pakistan captain Rashid Latif

Rashid Latif

Rashid Latif is a former Pakistani wicket keeper and a right handed batsman who represented the Pakistani cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches, between 1992 and 2003. He also served as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team in 2003...

for knowingly claiming a dropped catch from the bat of Bangladesh's Alok Kapali

Alok Kapali

Alok Kapali is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is an allrounder who bats in the middle to lower order and bowls leg spin with a run-up similar to that of Shane Warne. He is the only Bangladeshi cricket player to take a Test hat-trick.-Test career:Kapali made his Test debut in 2002, against Sri...

.

The Australian players faced much questioning as a result of the fallout of the incident. They maintained that they played hard but fair. Lee outlined the competitive spirit in the team while Ponting insisted that the only player to have been outside the spirit of the game was on the Indian side, a thinly-veiled reference to Harbhajan.

Gilchrist commenting on the match and responding to Kumble said:
In regards to the racism issue, Ponting denied he had done anything wrong by singularly reporting Harbhajan. Ponting stated that he was obligated to refer any incidents of racism to officials, as it was widely agreed among the cricket community that racism is unacceptable.
Hussey defended his team and said:
After widespread criticism of the Australian team across various media continued, a shocked Ponting promised to ensure that his team's conduct is not seen to be arrogant in future matches. He also said:
Following a team meeting about the spirit of cricket and how to approach a game in which there is increased pressure, Ponting admitted the team needed to "tighten up how we [the Australians] play" although he also said "there were no glaring issues" that needed to be fixed up:
The Indian players released few statements about the issue. Kumble wrote in his column in the Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....

that Ponting was not willing to listen to his pleas that the issue should remain on the field. Kumble claimed that he knew through experience that such an allegation would have major ramifications both on and off the field. Tendulkar reportedly sent a text message to the BCCI saying "Harbhajan is innocent and I can assure you on this... In this hour of crisis, the board should stand by him". Tendulkar has reportedly denied sending an SMS to Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar , popularly known as SAHEB , is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress...

. Both teams have expressed hope that this issue would not overshadow the cricket.

List of umpiring controversies

While the match was set for an intriguing contest, a number of dubious umpiring decisions were made, with the majority seeming to disadvantage the Indians.

Much of the criticism was attached to Bucknor; "Bucknor had one of his worst matches as an umpire and, at 61, may be nearing the end of a distinguished career. [He made]... several errors." He had earlier also been the subject of a complaint by India for dubious decisions and inappropriate gestures.

Benson "who had a good match in Melbourne, [the previous Test] did not endear himself for rejecting what looked a plumb leg-before appeal against Mike Hussey... On 20 at the time, Hussey went on to make an unbeaten

Not out

145."

Bucknor, from Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

and aged 61 at the time of the Test, was the most experienced umpire in international cricket history, having stood in a record 120 Tests, and is the only umpire to have officiated in over 100 Tests. He had also stood in 167 One Day Internationals including five Cricket World Cup

Cricket World Cup

The ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council , with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years...

finals up until the Sydney Test. Benson

Mark Benson

Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

is from England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

and aged 49, is a former international and first-class player and had stood in 21 Tests and 61 ODIs up to that point. Both umpires were part of the ten-member Elite Panel of ICC Umpires.

According to Cricinfo

Cricinfo

ESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...

, published reports stated that as many as 8 out of 11 controversial umpiring decisions went against the Indians. The major umpiring controversies were identified by Cricinfo, the Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....

and Star Cricket

STAR Cricket

Part of the ESPN-STAR network, STAR Cricket is a 24-hour cricket channel targeting Indian audiences owned by STAR TV. A channel showcasing first-class cricket action from around the globe, it broadcasts live and prerecorded international and regional cricket events as well as programming customised...

who were referring to live footage of the match:

Australian 1st Innings

Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...

(17) given not out by Mark Benson
Mark Benson
Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

- Ponting attempted a leg glance off his pads while facing the medium pacers of Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...

. He edged it back to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. He made his One Day International debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC...

. The appeal was turned down by the umpire. Ponting went on to score 55 runs.
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...

(55) given out by Mark Benson
Mark Benson
Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

- Ponting inside edged bowler Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....

back onto his back pad. He was adjudged LBW
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...

after an Indian appeal to the umpire.
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

(30) given not out by Steve Bucknor
Steve Bucknor
The Honourable Stephen Anthony Bucknor OJ, also known as Steve Bucknor, is a former international cricket umpire. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 31 May 1946. He became a high school mathematics teacher and sports coach, before becoming an international football referee and a cricket umpire...

- Symonds attempted a push outside off to the bowling of Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma
Ishant Sharma is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler. He has a high arm delivery action and is not a swinger of the ball but depends a lot on pace and movement off the seam....

, but managed to edge the ball to the wicketkeeper Dhoni. The Indian appeal for caught behind was turned down by Bucknor. Symonds went on to score 162*.
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

(48) given not out by third umpire Bruce Oxenford
Bruce Oxenford
Bruce Nicholas James Oxenford is an Australian cricket umpire.-Playing career:Oxenford played in eight first-class matches for Queensland during the 1991/92 and 1992/93 seasons.-Umpiring career:...

- Symonds lifted his back foot while beaten by Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...

, Dhoni appealed for a stumping which was referred to the third umpire
Third umpire
In international cricket matches the third umpire is an off-field umpire who makes the final decision in questions referred to him by the two on-field umpires. Television replays are available to the third umpire to assist him in coming to a decision...

. While analysing the video replays, Channel Nine commentators Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor (cricketer)
Mark Anthony Taylor, AO is a former Australian cricket player and Test opening batsman from 1988–1999, as well as captain from 1994–1999, succeeding Allan Border...

, Michael Slater
Michael Slater
Michael Jonathon Slater is a former Australian cricketer who played in 74 Tests and 42 ODIs for the Australian cricket team from 1993 to 2001...

and Ian Healy
Ian Healy
Ian Andrew Healy is a former cricketer who played for Queensland and Australia. A specialist wicketkeeper and useful right-hand middle-order batsman, he made an unheralded entry to international cricket in 1988, after only six first-class games. His work ethic and combativeness was much needed...

speculated that it was out. The 3rd umpire turned down the appeal, commentators at Cricinfo saying "in by a whisker, make that half a whisker". Symonds went on to score 162*.
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

(148) given not out by Steve Bucknor
Steve Bucknor
The Honourable Stephen Anthony Bucknor OJ, also known as Steve Bucknor, is a former international cricket umpire. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 31 May 1946. He became a high school mathematics teacher and sports coach, before becoming an international football referee and a cricket umpire...

- Symonds attempted to slide his back-foot into the crease when beaten by Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh Plaha , commonly known as Harbhajan Singh, is an Indian cricketer. A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan....

, Dhoni appealed for a stumping but Bucknor did not pass the request to the third umpire, adjudging Symonds not out. Cricinfo commentators said "he just appeared to have some part of his foot grounded behind the line". Symonds went on to score 162*.

Indian 1st innings

Wasim Jaffer
Wasim Jaffer
Wasim Jaffer is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler.-Early years:...

(3) given out by Mark Benson
Mark Benson
Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

- Jaffer bowled by a yorker from Brett Lee. Replays show that Lee's front foot was outside the crease which would make it a no ball
No ball
In the sport of cricket a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team, usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. The delivery of a no ball results in one run to be added to the batting team's score, and an additional ball must be bowled...

.
VVS Laxman (16) given not out by Mark Benson
Mark Benson
Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

- Laxman shaped to flick a full ball from Brett Lee down the leg side, further replays indicate the ball would probably have struck middle and leg or leg stump. Laxman went on to score 109.
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...

(36) given not out by Steve Bucknor
Steve Bucknor
The Honourable Stephen Anthony Bucknor OJ, also known as Steve Bucknor, is a former international cricket umpire. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 31 May 1946. He became a high school mathematics teacher and sports coach, before becoming an international football referee and a cricket umpire...

- Tendulkar was struck low on the pad in front of the stumps by the second ball of the 79th over of the Indian innings bowled by Michael Clarke. Bucknor adjudged it not out. Tendulkar went on to score 154 not out.

Australian 2nd Innings

Michael Hussey
Michael Hussey
Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective...

(22) given not out by Mark Benson
Mark Benson
Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

- Hussey is struck on the inside of the right pad deep in the crease off a ball that turned and kept low off the bowling of Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...

. Hussey went on to score 145*.
Michael Hussey
Michael Hussey
Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective...

(45) given not out by Mark Benson
Mark Benson
Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

- Hussey turns the full face of the bat to the leg side and gets a fine touch to wicket-keeper Dhoni off the bowling of Rudra Pratap Singh
Rudra Pratap Singh
Rudra Pratap Singh Hindi:आर पी सिंह is a left arm fast-medium bowler who has represented India in one day cricket, T20 and Test cricket. He is playing for Kochi Tuskers Kerala for 2011 IPL.R.P...

. Hussey went on to score 145*.
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....

(0) given not out by Steve Bucknor
Steve Bucknor
The Honourable Stephen Anthony Bucknor OJ, also known as Steve Bucknor, is a former international cricket umpire. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 31 May 1946. He became a high school mathematics teacher and sports coach, before becoming an international football referee and a cricket umpire...

- Symonds was struck on the front pad by a top-spinner from Kumble on his hat trick
Hat Trick
Hat trick, hat-trick or hattrick may refer to:* hat-trick — in various sports, achieving three goals, wickets, etc. in a single match* Hattrick — online football management game** Hattrick Limited — producers of this game...

ball. Bucknor adjudged it not out. Kumble missed out on a hat trick. Symonds went on to score 61.

Indian 2nd innings

Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

(38) given out by Steve Bucknor
Steve Bucknor
The Honourable Stephen Anthony Bucknor OJ, also known as Steve Bucknor, is a former international cricket umpire. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 31 May 1946. He became a high school mathematics teacher and sports coach, before becoming an international football referee and a cricket umpire...

- Dravid tucked bat and glove behind his pads as he successfully padded away a delivery from Andrew Symonds. Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national...

caught the ball and appealed for caught behind and Bucknor gave it out. Replays revealed a small deflection of the pads going almost straight into Gilchrist's hands.
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a former Indian cricketer, and captain of the Indian national team. Born into an affluent family, Ganguly was introduced into the world of cricket by his elder brother Snehasish. He is regarded as one of India's most successful captains in modern times. He started his...

(51) given out by Mark Benson
Mark Benson
Mark Richard Benson is a former International cricketer and a retired ICC Elite Panel cricket umpire - he played for England in one Test match and one One Day International in 1986....

- Whilst the TV evidence was inconclusive as to the correctness of the decision, the manner in which it was delivered has generated controversy. Sourav Ganguly edged the ball to Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (cricketer)
Michael John Clarke is an Australian cricketer. He was appointed captain of the Test and ODI teams on 30 March 2011. Nicknamed 'Pup', he is a right-handed batsman, and occasional left-arm orthodox spin bowler...

at slip who was engulfed by his team-mates in celebration of an apparent catch. Umpire Benson appeared unsure as to whether it carried and instead of referring to third umpire asked captain Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...

for clarification. There was a prior agreement between the teams that the fielders would be honest about whether the catch had carried. Ponting, having already consulted Clarke about the validity of the catch, raised his finger, telling the umpire that he thought the catch was cleanly taken. He came under criticism for claiming the catch on behalf of his fielder while he was himself not sure about it. He had earlier appealed for another dubious catch off M.S. Dhoni, when TV replays suggested the ball had touched the ground while he was diving. TV replays were inconclusive about whether ball touched the ground for Ganguly catch as well, in which case the batsman normally gets the benefit of the doubt.

Background of racism allegations

During Australia's previous tour of India for seven ODIs in October 2007, Symonds, the only non-white Australian player, was subjected to monkey-chants from some members of the Indian crowd at the 5th ODI in Vadodara

Vadodara

Vadodara formerly known as Baroda is the third most populated city in the Indian State of Gujarat . It is one of the four cities with the population of over 1 million...

.

Before the start of the tour, Symonds had expressed his displeasure over the celebrations in India over the Twenty20 World Cup win preceding the series. The tournament was won by India after defeating Australia in the semi finals and Pakistan in the final, and they were given a ticker-tape parade in Mumbai upon their return home.
In an interview after 2nd ODI at Kochi, Harbhajan criticized the Australian team as bad losers after their defeat to India in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup, and referred to words that he had exchanged with them in the Kochi match.
During the Kochi match, the Indian paceman Sreesanth had several heated exchanges with Symonds when Australia were batting, and had to be pulled away from Symonds by team-mates after dismissing him. However, Symonds's innings had already laid the platform for an eventual Australian victory.

The issue regarding Symonds became controversial and came to a climax during the final ODI at the Wankhede Stadium

Wankhede Stadium

The Sheshrao Krushnarao Wankhede Stadium is a cricket stadium in the Indian city of Mumbai. This ground was built after disputes between the Cricket Club of India, which owns the Brabourne Stadium, and the Mumbai Cricket Association over the allocation of tickets for cricket matches...

in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, where four men were arrested for taunting Symonds with monkey gestures and a large proportion of the crowd booed Symonds when he came out to bat. Symonds fell for a golden duck.

It was reported in the media that Harbhajan had called Symonds a "monkey" in India, but that no further action was taken after the matter was resolved privately with a promise that it would not be repeated.

Prior to this series, the two teams made a deal with the match referees to ensure good conduct. The nature of the deal has been contested by the two sides. The Australians insist that the deal stated that there would be no racism, including calling others monkeys, and Harbhajan was accused of breaking his promise to Symonds. The Indian officials believed that the deal also obligated the pair to additionally avoid exchanging words. According to Justice John Hansen who carried out the appeal for Harbhajan, the pact was broken by Symonds who swore at Harbhajan at the end of the 116th over.

Harbhajan banned

During the third day, the controversy restarted. At the end of the 116th over of India's first innings, Harbhajan was batting with Tendulkar in a vital partnership for India, who had just lost a series of quick wickets. Lee was the bowler in that over and Harbhajan had just edged him over the slips for four. Harbhajan then tapped Lee on the backside with his bat, apparently saying "hard luck", to which Lee did not react. Symonds says he needed to stand up for Lee so in his own words, he "had a bit of a crack at Harbhajan, telling him exactly what I thought of his antics". Symonds went on to claim that Harbhajan then "shot back" by calling him a monkey. Symonds stated in the appeal hearing that he believed that Test cricket was no place to be friendly to opposition players, so he spoke to Harbhajan. Under questioning he admitted that he had provoked the incident and used the word "fuck" among other language against Harbhajan, who stated that he then became "very angry" because of the use of this word.

Symond's claims were not confirmed by either of two umpires (neither heard the comment).

Following the alleged exchange, commensurate with ICC protocol Ponting reported the incident to Benson and Bucknor, who later reported Harbhajan to the match referee Mike Procter

Mike Procter

on the charge of "Using language or gestures that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person's race, religion, gender, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin."http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23008858-5001023,00.html?from=mostpop Kumble called Ponting at the end of the third day and asked him to not press charges against Harbhajan, wanting the issue not to leave the field. Kumble claimed "Having played cricket for this long, [I knew] such an allegation would definitely spiral into what it has now. I anticipated that".

Kumble said that he asked Harbhajan why he did it and received the reply "he hadn't, Symonds did and goaded", and insisted he made no racist comment. Kumble asked Ponting whether an apology from himself for the on-field altercation, as captain, would suffice but Ponting was "not willing to listen". Kumble believed that the offer of an apology was interpreted by Ponting as an admission of guilt, although he explained to the Australian captain that no racist remarks were made.

The Australians have had a turbulent relationship with Harbhajan. In 1998, Harbhajan taunted Ponting when he dismissed him, resulting in the pair exchanging words directly in another's face, with both of them docked their match fees. In the historic 2000-01 tour of India

Australian cricket team in India in 2000-01

The Australian cricket team toured India from February to April 2001 for a three Test series and a five match ODI series.- Background :The Indian cricket team at the time was depleted, without leading leg spinner Anil Kumble...

, Harbhajan became the first Indian bowler to achieve a hat trick

Hat Trick

Hat trick, hat-trick or hattrick may refer to:* hat-trick — in various sports, achieving three goals, wickets, etc. in a single match* Hattrick — online football management game** Hattrick Limited — producers of this game...

and took two ten-wicket hauls against the Australians. Ponting made only 17 runs at 3.40 during the series, and was dismissed by Harbhajan on each of his five innings. During the 2007–08 particular tour, Harbhajan had claimed that he had the measure of Ponting, pointing to the fact that he has dismissed him six times in the last seven Tests. He claimed Ponting three times in the first four innings of the Australian tour.

The hearing for the incident was initially scheduled to be at the end of the fourth day's play, but it was postponed until after the match for fear that it would aggravate or distract the players. Mike Procter

Mike Procter

, who would be hearing the case, indicated that the umpires had not heard anything in relation to the allegations. On the evening after the end of day five, Procter, after listening to the testimony of Hayden, Symonds, Ponting and Gilchrist as well as that of Tendulkar and Harbhajan, declared that Harbhajan would be banned for three Test matches. Included in his final report were the words that "I believe one group is telling the truth", implying that Tendulkar and Harbhajan were lying in their testimonies.

Indians accuse Hogg

Australian spinner Brad Hogg

Brad Hogg

was later charged with the same offense as Harbhajan for calling Indian captain Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble

and vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

"bastards", a highly offensive term in India, after the BCCI lodged a complaint. The term was not on a blacklist submitted by the Indians to match officials before the series, in line with ICC protocol. Hogg claimed that he did not mean to insult the Indians with the term. The term "bastard" in India is taken literally as someone born out of wedlock; such people often become outcastes and are frowned upon in conservative parts of society.

The hearing for Hogg's case was to be held before Procter, and the preliminary date was set for 14 January. The charges were dropped after the two captains met for peace talks along with ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle

Ranjan Madugalle

Ranjan Senerath Madugalle is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who became a match referee in 1993. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy, and Royal College, Colombo....

BCCI suspends tour; ICC mediates

On 7 January 2008, the Indian team announced that they were discontinuing the tour pending the outcome of the appeal against Harbhajan's three match ban. Rather than travelling on to Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

, after spending several hours waiting on their tour bus, the Indian team disembarked and remained in Sydney. The Board of Control for Cricket in India

Board of Control for Cricket in India

The Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered at Mumbai, is the national governing body for all cricket in India. It's not the apex governing body in India. The board was formed in December 1928 as BCCI replaced Calcutta Cricket Club. BCCI is a society, registered under the Tamil Nadu...

issued a statement in which they "...decided to challenge the unfair decision to suspend Harbhajan Singh...", stating that the ban was "...patently unfair...". Tendulkar was reported to have messaged Pawar, saying "I suggest we should play in Perth only if the ban is lifted". Tendulkar denied advocating a boycott. However, they went back on the suspension and proceeded to Canberra for their next outing.

The racism allegation caused considerable backlash from within India. Many, including BCCI chairman Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar , popularly known as SAHEB , is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress...

have equated it to an attack on the country's people itself. Pawar told Cricinfo "allegations of racism against a member of our cricket team is not acceptable...We fight against racism. Our country supported anti-racism movements in South Africa." Kumble considered the allegation one that should not have been made lightly as the team is meant to be an ambassador for the country and an allegation of racism becomes an issue of honour.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed

Malcolm Speed

Malcolm Walter Speed is an Australian businessman and the former CEO of the International Cricket Council.Before he entered the world of cricket, he was a barrister in Melbourne. He was originally the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Cricket Board from 1997 until in 2001, he took up the...

announced that "a commissioner will be appointed by Wednesday to hear the appeal, which could take place before the third Test starts in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

on 16 January." The ICC also announced that chief referee Ranjan Madugalle

Ranjan Madugalle

Ranjan Senerath Madugalle is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who became a match referee in 1993. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy, and Royal College, Colombo....

has been appointed to mediate between Ponting and Kumble to reduce tensions between the two teams. One result of these talks was the dropping of the charges against Hogg. Speed also asked Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...

to talk to Ponting and other players. Speed was quoted as saying that:
Afterwards it was announced by the ICC that an appeal could not be heard before the Third Test, so Harbhajan was free to play until then, regardless of the appeal's result. The ICC also confirmed the New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

High Court judge John Hansen's appointment to oversee the appeal. The BCCI also clarified that the word "monkey" was not considered offensive in India.

On 11 January, the BCCI president Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar , popularly known as SAHEB , is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress...

, clarified that the tour would not be canceled even if Harbhajan's failed. On 14 January, the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed announced that, the appeal would be heard on 29 and 30 January, after the fourth Test in Adelaide. He was quoted as saying that:
Harbhajan did not play in the Third Test in Perth as India opted to field only one spinner, Kumble, on what was expected to be a pace-friendly surface, but India opted to recall him for the Fourth Test in Adelaide while his appeal was still pending.

Bucknor removed

The BCCI called for the removal of Bucknor for the Third Test in Perth, although they previously agreed not to interfere with the choice of umpire for any of the matches. On 8 January the ICC confirmed Bucknor would be dropped and replaced by New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden

Billy Bowden

Brent Fraser "Billy" Bowden is an international cricket umpire from New Zealand. He was a player until he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and took up umpiring...

, despite previously stating there were no plans to stand him down.

Harbhajan acquitted

On 28 January, after the appeal hearing at Adelaide by ICC appeals commissioner Judge John Hansen, the racism charge on Harbhajan Singh was found to be "not proved". Harbhajan's three Test ban was therefore lifted. However, the lesser charge (Level 2.8 offense) of using abusive language was applied and Harbhajan was fined 50% of his match fee.

Hansen ruled a lack of sufficient evidence. He was particularly perturbed by the fact the altercation stemmed from Symonds reacting angrily to Harbhajan patting Lee on the backside in recognition of a good delivery. Symonds' inability to conclusively say whether Harbhajan Singh had used the word monkey or a Hindi abuse, and his admission that the language did not fall under the requirements of a level 3.3 offence played a crucial part. Symonds was unable to state if he had heard Harbhajan use a term in his native tongue "teri maa ki" which appears to be pronounced with an "n" and accepted that it was a possibility.

Michael Clarke's account was critical, considering that it did not coincide favourably with the rest of the Australians.
Of Symonds' provocation of Harbhajan, Hansen said
Hansen was favourable on the conduct and testimony of Tendulkar, who Procter had implied was lying and could not have been within earshot of the altercation. According to Hansen, video replays from various camera angles showed that Tendulkar was the closest player to the conversation and was likely to have heard it. Tendulkar admitted words were spoken in both English and Hindi. Hansen also rejected the suggestion that the BCCI and Cricket Australia reached an agreement which he simply rubber-stamped.
He was also critical of all parties involved in the confrontation in Sydney, saying "their actions do not reflect well on them or the game".

International reaction

Former Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i fast bowler Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram is a former Pakistani left arm fast bowler and left-handed batsman in cricketer and model. who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches....

lashed out against the "hypocritical" Australians for reporting Harbhajan, despite being known for their sledging

Sledging (cricket)

Sledging is a term used in cricket to describe the practice whereby some players seek to gain an advantage by insulting or verbally intimidating the opposing player. The purpose is to try to weaken the opponent's concentration, thereby causing him to make mistakes or underperform...

and despite a rumoured pre-series agreement not to refer to Symonds, Australia's only dark skinned player, using the word "monkey" as Indian cricket fans had done in their recent home series. Akram further attacked them by calling them the "worst sledgers" in the world and labeling them as "cry babies":
Indian officials further went on to claim that because "monkey" was not a derogatory word in India it was acceptable.

Rashid Latif

Rashid Latif

, a former Pakistani cricketer who was accused of being a racist to Adam Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist

Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national...

during the 2003 Cricket World Cup

2003 Cricket World Cup

-Group stage tables and results:The top three teams from each pool qualify for the next stage, carrying forward the points already scored against fellow qualifiers, plus a quarter of the points scored against the teams that failed to qualify.-Pool A:...

, also defended Harbhajan, saying that the bowler had temper problems but was otherwise a good person:
John Morrison

John Morrison (cricketer)

John Francis Maclean Morrison, MNZM played 17 Tests and 18 One Day Internationals for New Zealand. Since retiring from playing he has worked as a commentator and in local body politics, including serving on the Wellington City Council.He was greatly known for his dribbly spin bowling, including...

, former New Zealand

New Zealand cricket team

The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...

spin-bowler accused Australians of "running off to the teacher", while his former team-mate Dipak Patel

Dipak Patel

Dipak Narshibhai Patel played 37 Tests and 75 One Day Internationals for the New Zealand cricket team....

, of Indian descent, said that he had been called "a lot worse than a monkey".

Harsha Bhogle

Harsha Bhogle

Harsha Bhogle is an Indian cricket commentator and journalist. He was born in a Marathi speaking family in Hyderabad.-Early life:...

, an Indian commentator of the channel Star Cricket

STAR Cricket

said during the commentary when the game ended:
During the Clarke's claimed catch and when Ponting held up his finger, Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar

commented on air:
Gavaskar strongly condemned Procter, accusing him of blatant racism for "taking the 'white man's' word against that of the 'brown man'" in handling the racism allegations and imposing the ban of three Tests on Harbhajan Singh. Gavaskar was also skeptical regarding the motivation of Australian team in reporting Harbhajan Singh, because he has dismissed Australian captain Ricky Ponting in three times in the current series. In his newspaper column to Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....

, Gavaskar has wrote:
Christopher Martin-Jenkins

Christopher Martin-Jenkins

Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins MBE, also known as CMJ , is a cricket journalist and Past President of the MCC. He is also a commentator for Test Match Special on BBC Radio....

, chief cricket correspondent for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

defended the "righteous indignation of India's players" and suggested that the BCCI's adamance to give the issue the necessary publicity has been better for the game. Martin-Jenkins also described Australia as the "nonpareils of world sledging" and expressed the view that Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke (cricketer)

would be less appropriate as a future captain than Mike Hussey based on Clarke's decision to stand his ground after being caught at first slip.

Former player and match referee Clive Lloyd

Clive Lloyd

Clive Hubert Lloyd CBE AO is a former West Indies cricketer. He captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become the dominant Test-playing nation, a position that was only relinquished in the latter half of the 1990s...

commenting on Steve Bucknor

Steve Bucknor

being stood down for the next test match in a BBC Radio 5 Live interview said:
Former England cricketer and current Channel Nine

Nine Network

The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

commentator Tony Greig

Tony Greig

, whose comments on air were criticised by Ricky Ponting stood by his observations saying:

Going on to comment on other issues of the game including umpiring and the ethics of walking, he said:
English journalist Simon Barnes writing for The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....

believed it was too late to draw a racism line in the sand. Barnes alleged that sledging is as much part of cricket as kicking in the shins is as part of rugby. According to Barnes "Australia has long promoted mental disintegration; as a result, we are facing the disintegration of the game of cricket."
Oliver Brett of BBC Sport was sympathetic towards the Indians. Brett claimed that Ponting's word should not have been taken as fact by Procter as Ponting had claimed a catch that was "obviously grassed" and had raised his finger to Benson to indicate certainty that a dubious catch had been taken.

Reaction in Australia

Cricket Australia

chief executive James Sutherland

James Sutherland (cricketer)

James Alexander Sutherland is a former Australian first-class cricketer and current cricket administrator...

defended the Australian players' behaviour, claiming that there had been a "marked improvement" in their on-field attitude and behaviour in recent years. Paul Marsh

Paul Marsh

Paul Michael Marsh is a former English cricketer. Marsh was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire....

, the chief of the Australian Cricketers Association, which represents the country's first-class cricketers, believed the issues to be an instance of "tall poppy syndrome

Tall poppy syndrome

Tall poppy syndrome is a pejorative term primarily used in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Anglosphere nations to describe a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticised because their talents or achievements elevate them above...

", claiming that the only reason Australia was being targeted by the media and opposition teams was that they had been dominating world cricket for too long. Later, in a Sydney Morning Herald article, Marsh pointed out that Australia was one of the four nominees to the ICC Spirit of Cricket awards, which occurred in September 2007. Marsh also pointed out that the Hogg incident was the first ICC Code of Conduct violation by the Australian team in 13 months.

Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh

Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...

writing for The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph (Australia)

The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...

in his article titled "Epic encounter's sour aftertaste" said:
He further said that the affair "now has the potential to affect relations between the countries". Waugh further offered to act as a mediator between the two sides.

The English Australian

English Australian

English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians are Australians of English descent, are the single largest ethnic group in Australia and the largest 'ancestry' identity in the Australia Census after "Australian"...

journalist and former captain of Somerset County Cricket Club

Somerset County Cricket Club

Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...

, Peter Roebuck

Peter Roebuck

Peter Michael Roebuck was an English cricketer who achieved later renown as an Australian newspaper columnist and radio commentator. A consistent county performer with over 25,000 runs, and "one of the better English openers of the 1980s", Roebuck captained the English county side Somerset...

, a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...

and The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

, branded Ponting as "arrogant" and insisted that be stripped of the captaincy.
There was support for Ponting among some quarters of the media with The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....

's Malcolm Conn
Malcolm Conn
Malcolm Conn is an Australian journalist best known for writing about cricket. He is the News Limited chief cricket writer.Conn won a Walkley Award in 1999 for his coverage of the John the bookmaker controversy involving Australian cricketers Shane Warne and Mark Waugh....

suggesting that he was being unfairly targeted.

Former player and now coach and commentator Geoff Lawson
Geoff Lawson (cricketer)
Geoffrey Francis Lawson, OAM is a former Australian cricketer and the former coach of the Pakistan cricket team....

was scathing in his description of the team. Speaking to the Herald Sun

Herald Sun

The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...

, he said:
America's Cup

America's Cup

The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...

-winning yachtsman John Bertrand, Olympic 1500 m gold medal-winning runner Herb Elliott

Herb Elliott

Herbert James "Herb" Elliott AC MBE is a former Australian athlete, one of the world's greatest middle distance runners...

and world champion marathon runner Robert de Castella

Robert de Castella

Robert Francois de Castella, MBE is an Australian former world champion marathon runner. He is widely known as "Deek" or "Deeks" to the Australian public, and "Tree" to his competitors due to his thick legs and inner calm...

, all members of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, accused the Australian cricket team of turning sport into war and thereby damaging international relations and placing the country in a negative light. John Bertrand, the Hall of Fame chairman, went on to say that:
Kevin Bartlett, former AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

player, accused the Australian cricket team of bad sportsmanship towards its opponents by saying that:
Glenn McGrath

Glenn McGrath

Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...

, a recently retired Australian cricketer who played alongside most of Ponting's men, commented upon the decision to stand down Steve Bucknor

Steve Bucknor

by saying:
The federal opposition leader in Australia Brendan Nelson

Brendan Nelson

Dr Brendan John Nelson is a former Australian politician and former federal Opposition leader. He served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives from the 1996 federal election until 19 October 2009 as the Liberal member for Bradfield, a northern Sydney seat...

defended Ponting and said:
Neil Harvey

Neil Harvey

Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...

, member of Don Bradman's Invincibles as well as the Australian Cricket Board Team of the Century

Australian Cricket Board Team of the Century

The Australian Cricket Board Team of the Century was a theoretical cricket team selected by the Australian Cricket Board in 2000 as the best team of Australian cricketers in the 20th century.- Team :# Bill Ponsford# Arthur Morris# Don Bradman...

and Australian Cricket Hall of Fame

Australian Cricket Hall of Fame

The Australian Cricket Hall of Fame is a part of the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum in the National Sports Museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This Hall of Fame commemorates the greatest Australian cricketers of all time....

inductee, blamed Ponting, saying that:
Jeff Thomson

Jeff Thomson

Jeffrey Robert Thomson is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he was one of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket and was the opening partner of fellow fast bowler Dennis Lillee; their combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history...

, the former Australian fast bowler, harshly criticised the Australians by saying that:
On 10 January, following repetitive criticism of the Australian team, The Australian

The Australian

The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....

posted on their websites a video of the 6th ODI in the 2006 English tour of India, in which Harbhajan stands his ground after being clean bowled by Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...

, having an exchange with the bowler including swearing to him, before leaving. On the same day, Channel Nine

Nine Network

posted videos of the Harbhajan incident as well as an instance in which Dhoni dived to his right and claimed a catch which had bounced at the base of his glove. Channel Nine claimed there was "hypocrisy afoot" under a headline of "Holier-than-thou Indians are sinners too". In the same article it posted a 1981 video of Gavaskar ordering his partner Chetan Chauhan to leave the playing arena and stop the Test match after incorrectly being given out, in a bid to backup its argument.

Public polling

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

's The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

published a poll that revealed 83% of respondents thought Ponting was not a good ambassador for the game. A poll on The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...

s website revealed that 60% of the public agreed with Roebuck's call for Ponting to stand down. However, neither poll is necessarily reflective of opinion in Australia with anyone in the world can vote as often as they please, and the sample is not random. However, a poll on the Wide World of Sports website revealed 41,000 of the 50,000 respondents did not want Ponting removed.

Aftermath

The issue was a highly volatile subject in media in both Australia and India. After the meeting of the captains prior to the Third Test the teams appeared to be in better spirits, although some media outlets suggested the Australians had been trying to alter the way they play in response to the criticism and to fit in with the vague definition of the 'spirit of the game'. India won the next Test in Perth by a fair margin and drew the fourth match in Adelaide, giving Australia a 2-1 victory in the series. In the context of the series result the Sydney Test ended up being pivotal.

External links

Harbhajan Singh charged with offence under ICC's Code of Conduct, ICC Media Release, Friday, 4 January 2008 9:15:31 pm
Harbhajan Singh found guilty of offence under ICC's Code of Conduct, ICC Media Release, Monday, 7 January 2008 10:11:50 am
Brad Hogg charged with offense under ICC's Code of Conduct, Date set for Brad Hogg's Code of Conduct hearing, ICC Media Release, Saturday, 12 January 2008 6:12:57 pm
ICC statement following the conclusion of Harbhajan Singh's independent appeal hearing, ICC Media Release, Tuesday, 29 January 2008 03:07:50 pm
Full text of the judgement by Justice John Hansen

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