The lowdown on the showdown

Chloe Saltau
January 12, 2008
Adam Gilchrist (left), Harbhajan Singh, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar talk turkey during the third day of the Test in Sydney.

Photo: AFP

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How did all this begin?

The race scandal that has split the cricket world had its origins long before Harbhajan Singh tapped Brett Lee on the behind with his bat during the Sydney Test.

The bad blood began to bubble before even the acrimonious one-day series in India, where Andrew Symonds was racially abused by crowds in Vadadora and Nagpur and, in Mumbai, by the Punjabi spinner at the heart of the controversy.

It began when Australia and India clashed in a semi-final of the Twenty20 world championship in Durban, a South African city with a big Indian population and a rambunctious crowd.

The Australian and Indian dug-outs were side by side and the Australians were irritated by the noise emanating from the Indian bench, and apparently by the presence of BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi, who had ensconced himself among the Indian players.

Yuvraj Singh had pounded six sixes in an over against England earlier in the tournament. When Yuvraj went out to bat against the Australians, Brad Hogg, who was not playing, reportedly called out after him: "Wonder who's going to hit six sixes today." When the first shot sailed over the boundary rope, the Indian bench, well within earshot of the Australians, counted down. "Five, four, three …" All harmless banter between opponents, but it gained an edge after India had conquered Pakistan in the Twenty20 final. Before the first game of the Australians' subsequent tour of India, Symonds criticised the extravagant celebrations laid on by Indian politicians after Mahendra Dhoni had led the Indian team to victory over Pakistan. "We have had a very successful side and I think watching how we celebrate and how they celebrate, I think we have been pretty humble in the way we have gone about it," Symonds said. "Personally, I think they have got far too carried away with their celebrations. It has definitely sparked passion inside of us."

In India, the jousting escalated, and Harbhajan became Australia's enemy No. 1. Both sides agree a meeting took place between Harbhajan and Symonds after the seventh ODI in Mumbai but differ over the agreement that was struck. The Australians claim Harbhajan called Symonds a "monkey", and that Symonds insisted on sorting the matter out privately. According to Australian team sources, both men agreed the word was unacceptable and it was this unwritten agreement that was broken by Harbhajan in Sydney. Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan, however, claimed they simply agreed not to sledge each other, and that it was Symonds who broke the pact. The Australians' response is that the meeting would not have taken place if Harbhajan had not racially abused Symonds in the first place.

Meantime, the Indian board failed to investigate the monkey chants from the crowd until it came under pressure from the International Cricket Council to do so, and released a joint statement with Cricket Australia condemning racism.

What happened in Sydney?

During the 116th over of India's first innings, Harbhajan rocked onto the back foot and slashed Australian paceman Brett Lee over the slips for four. Lee has a warm relationship with many of the Indian players, including Harbhajan, through his off-field association with the country he first visited as a teenager. When Harbhajan tapped him on the bottom, he is believed to have said something like "hard luck" to the fast bowler, who was straining for his wicket.

Symonds intervened. "I'm a firm believer in sticking up for your teammate, so I stepped in and had a bit of a crack at Harbhajan, telling him exactly what I thought of his antics," the Queenslander said in his paid newspaper column. "He then had a shot back, which brings us to the situation we're facing."

At the end of the over, Harbhajan appears to call the Australian towards him. Channel Nine and ESPN footage shows them walking across the pitch together, talking all the while. There does not seem to be any great display of anger, but Symonds continues to chirp at Harbhajan over his shoulder as he walks away.

Matthew Hayden approaches from behind, and Harbhajan's batting partner Sachin Tendulkar attempts to defuse the confrontation. Ricky Ponting becomes involved and, in footage understood to have been made available to the ICC, can be seen holding two fingers up to indicate that this is the second time Harbhajan has called Symonds a monkey, including the Mumbai incident.

Symonds, Hayden and Michael Clarke all said they heard the offending remark, but it was not detected by umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor, nor by Channel Nine's stump microphones. All that is captured are the reactions of Clarke and Hayden.

What was it about the Australians' behaviour that moved Anil Kumble to protest that only one team was playing in the spirit of the game?

Kumble is one of the few captains in world cricket to have struck an agreement with Ponting to accept the fielder's word on contentious catches. The Australians believe the spirit of the agreement was upheld, because Ponting did not claim to have caught Rahul Dravid in the first innings and Michael Clarke was certain he got his fingers beneath a ball to catch Sourav Ganguly in the slips in the second, moving Ponting to gesture towards Benson to raise his finger. "In my mind we lived that agreement," said an Australian team source. However, the captains' deal was threatened when Clarke stood his ground after edging a ball to first slip in the second innings. Kumble did not see why he should accept the word of a player who did not walk in such circumstances. "Someone edged the ball to slips in the second innings of the Sydney Test and stood there even when there was not an iota of doubt over the dismissal," Kumble wrote in his Hindustan Times column. "He then claimed a catch that showed more than reasonable doubt and said he was 100% certain it was clean."

What would have happened if the match was drawn?

It is possible that Indian teenager Ishant Sharma would be at the centre of a time-wasting controversy, having walked out to face Clarke's hat-trick ball in the closing stages of the Test with two right gloves. Kumble would be a national hero, having resisted the Australians for more than two hours. Ponting would have been criticised for conservative captaincy, having left his declaration too late. Steve Bucknor might have kept his job.


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