India and Australia have often engaged in high profile battles both on and off the field. While Aussies are often known to push the bar when it comes to mental disintegration. India on the other hand have also not taken it lying back especially since the turn of the century. This has led to volatile drama among these two teams whenever they have gone head to head against each other. Stumpsandbails brings you 5 incidents where the fights between these two nations got bad, bitter, and ugly.
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Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh
India were able to get under the skin of the Australian team in 2007. During Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh’s partnership in the first innings, Andrew Symonds said a few words to Harbhajan Singh. And Harbhajan immediately retorted with few words too. Nobody knew the magnitude of the fight until the completion of the match. Harbhajan was accused of racially abusing Andrew Symonds. It was alleged that Harbhajan called Symonds a monkey. The Indian team fought this allegation tooth and nail and managed to successfully clear Harbhajan’s name from the allegation. Things reached such a standpoint that the Indian team wanted to quit the series midway. But eventually went on to play the series and gained wide respect for their behaviour both on and off-field.
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Umpiring howlers and players breaching the spirit of cricket
If the monkey gate saga wasn’t enough then the Sydney test of 2007 saw various ugly events one after the other. It started in the first innings when Ricky Ponting was ruled not out by umpire Mark Benson when he had nicked the ball. But the major talking point was Andrew Symonds getting a reprieve from Steve Bucknor. When the batsman had nicked the ball and everyone except the umpire heard the noise. Australia were 134-6 then and went on to make 463 in total in the first innings. A lesser-known fact is that Andrew Symonds was out stumped by Wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But his appeal was outrightly rejected by Steve Bucknor. To make matters worse for the Indians, Rahul Dravid was wrongly adjudged caught behind during India’s 2nd innings. The ball had missed the bat but umpire Steve Bucknor still sent him back to the pavilion.
The other facet of Aussies that came to the fore during this match was their trait of playing ugly to win. Neither of their players walked when they knew they were out. Classic examples among them were Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, and Andrew Symonds. It didn’t just end there, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke both claimed a bump catch which was clearly against the spirit of cricket.
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Steve Smith’s Brain-fade moment
In a fierce contest at Bengaluru (2017 series), India clawed back with a series-leveling win. A special moment in the game stood out. When the then Australian Captain Steve Smith looked back at the dressing room asking whether to take the DRS. This didn’t sit well with Indian Captain Virat Kohli. Who immediately went up to the umpires and asked how on earth could this happen. Virat Kohli didn’t like what happened there and was quoted saying he lost friends with the Australian team at the end of the series.
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Michael Slater abusing Rahul Dravid
During Australia’s tour of India in 2001, the Aussies were playing a fearsome brand of cricket. In a show of needless aggression, Australian opener Michael Slater went hard at Rahul Dravid with the choicest of words. He got triggered by the fact that Rahul Dravid didn’t think Slater caught his catch cleanly. While Dravid was well within his rights to check the authenticity of the catch. Slater got carried away and ended up sledging one of the finest men in the game, Rahul Dravid.
Gautam Gambhir elbowed Shane Watson
India were playing against Australia at Ferozeshah Kotla in the 3rd test of the 4 match test series. Gautam Gambhir had stitched a fine partnership with VVS Laxman and scored a fine double century. But guess what? Gambhir had to miss the next test, thanks to him elbowing Shane Watson while taking a second run. Gambhir seemed to have reacted to the provocation from Shane Watson, But by making physical contact with a fellow player, Gambhir attracted a penalty and hence missed the next test.
