cricket

Updated: Mar 19, 2020 09:33 IST

More than twelve years since the infamous Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has spoken about what transpired between India and Australia during that match. Ponting, who spoke about the ‘Monkeygate’ episode in detail in a podcast on Sky Cricket, accepted that India had been hard done by during the match as some key umpiring decisions went against them.

Anil Kumble, India’s captain on the tour, had famously said in the post match press conference that ”Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game.”On being asked about Kumble’s comment and how he coped with the pressure after the media targetted the Australian team for being ‘arrongant’ after the Sydney Test, Ponting said he was surprised.

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“I was surprised, with Anil, I had no idea what he said in the PC. I’m not sure where he was coming from, I know they got the raw end of some of the umpiring decisions in the second innings which cost them but we didn’t do too much wrong,” Ponting said on a sky sports podcast.

“I think we got criticised for not shaking hands immediately after the last wicket fell. Michael Clarke picked three wickets in the last over of the game and we got together as a unit. It was a difficult time and as captain, there were ups and downs, but I had more ups than downs,” he further added.

India lost the Sydney Test match by 122 runs despite taking a sizeable first innings lead. The Indian team had complained against the umpiring in the match as several key errors were made, which went against the touring Indian side.

Ponting also shared his experience in which he has confessed that the sequence of events which followed was the lowest point of his captaincy stint.

“We all felt let down by the end result (of the Monkeygate controversy). The fact that it got in the way of the way we played our cricket for the next Test match was probably the most disappointing thing,” he said.