There is no point for me writing a post to point how dirty did Australia played the second test match as one can see that the entire world is against them on this. But still somehow I am not able to resist myself in writing some of the points I observed.
While doing the aftermath of the match, when someone asked Ricky Ponting about his views on some of the controvertial decisions and catches (including his huge appeal for an incomplete catch), here is what he had to say:
"... In my opinion umpires are also human and are subject to make errors and in Ganguly's decision, the umpire (Mark Benson) was looking for me (captain) to ask if the catch was complete. I asked Clarke about the catch and he was confident that he had taken the catch and so I confirmed the umpire about the catch and said that Ganguly was out and this is the way I think the cricket should be played...".
No Mr. Ponting, the game SHOULDN'T be played this way. As a rule and also quoted by Sunil Gavaskar when talking about these controvertial decisions, it is stated that in case of a doubt the umpire has to consult the leg umpire (and not Ricky Ponting, opposition team's captain) to clarify his doubt and if the leg umpire is also not sure about it then the third umpire is reffered to for the decision. In case of the third umpire also not sure about the issue, the benefit of doubt is given to the batsman which was clearly not the thing in Ganguly's case. Though I wonder, how good would it have been asking the third umpire on this as he himself gave some wrong decision when he got the liberty to use technology and see the replay multiple times.
In all, it was a bad day for the Indian side watching the australian team, the umpires, the third umpire and the match referee all against India and giving the wrong decisions all the times. Some of the controvertial decisions that I remember are:
1) Symonds not given out twice (finally hitting 150+) was a major blow to the Indian side.
2) Ganguly's decision - Clarke grounded the ball.
3) Dravid's caught behind decision - Dravid never touched the ball by his bat.
4) Jaffer's decision - Brett Lee did a no ball but umpires were kind enough to Lee not to see that.
5) Third umpire decision of stumping etc.
On the top of this, the Harbhajan-Symonds controversy where the match referee (Mike Procter) found Harbhajan guilty on the plea of just two Australian player when none of the umpire heard the comment. Sachin, who was in the crease when the incident happened, was also not considered worthy enough to listen to. Harbhajan being banned for 3 matches is a big enough punishment anyone can give to a player (that too when the charges weren't proved) considering the maximum punishment was 4 matches ban. Anyways, history knows how the same person banned 5-6 Indian players for some matches sometime back even when they didn't do anything that should make someone ban them for some matches.
In my opinion, Indians should just boycott the series as the Australian team and their allies have forgotten even the basics of the sportsmanship which says that it doesn't matter who wins or loses the game, what matters is how the game is played.
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