Soon after the end of play on the third day we were informed by Mike Procter that there would be a formal hearing on the incident at the end of the fourth day, which was later changed to the end of the match. It did not leave us in the best frame of mind in the middle of an intense contest. While it was distressing to hear that Symonds felt he had been racially abused, it was equally distressing to observe what Bhajji was going through. As far as we were concerned, he had retaliated in the face of provocation, which was par for the course in an Australia–India cricket match. But he did not racially abuse another cricketer.
With the controversy overshadowing everything, the Test match assumed a completely different character. By the fifth day we were batting to save the game. Mind you, there is little doubt in my mind that we would have drawn had it not been for what seemed to us to be mistakes by the umpires and some rather unsportsmanlike conduct by a few of the Australian players.
Rahul Dravid was given out caught behind off Symonds for 38 by umpire Bucknor when his bat seemed to be a fair distance away from the ball. The wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was standing up to the stumps at the time and was in the best position to see if the ball had touched Rahul’s bat. Yet he who prided himself on walking off if he nicked the ball appealed for the caught-behind and to our disbelief we saw the umpire raise the finger. It was a shocking decision. Some of us actually wondered if Rahul had been given out lbw.
A few overs later, Sourav was given out by umpire Benson after Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting decided to appeal for what we thought was a grassed catch at slip. Finally, umpire Bucknor gave Dhoni out leg-before when to us the ball would clearly have missed the stumps. It seemed that every decision that could go against us had done so.
After the Test had ended with an Australian victory in the dying minutes of the fifth day, the Indian team were instructed to stay behind at the ground for the Bhajji hearing. Despite this, however, I was the first person to go out and congratulate the Australians, regardless of all the controversy and disappointment. In those circumstances, to have to hang around in order to testify on an important incident like that wasn’t ideal, to say the least.
The hearing was conducted rather strangely, it seemed to me, with the Australians and Indians asked to testify separately, without the other side being present in the room. This certainly didn’t improve the trust between the Indian and Australian players. I was the principal witness because I was batting at the other end from Bhajji and I recounted the incident to the match referee in detail. Apart from Bhajji himself, Chetan Chauhan, our manager on this tour, MV Sridhar, the media manager, and Anil Kumble, the captain, were also called.
Mike Procter did not look very convinced by our version of events and we found it surprising that he asked us to wait in our dressing room till well past midnight. In fact, it was not until 2 a.m. that we were allowed to return to our hotel. The controversy had started to cast a pall over the series. After the hearing there was serious ill-feeling between the two teams and we felt betrayed by the turn of events.
Standing up for justice
We were preparing to travel to Canberra the day after the Sydney Test to play a first-class fixture when we heard that Bhajji had been banned for three matches. We had had enough. It was just not acceptable and we decided it was time to take a stand against the judgement. We did not agree with what the referee had done and felt that the hearing at Sydney had been something of a farce. We informed the BCCI of the players’ feelings and held a team meeting to decide what to do about it.
Anil Kumble and I took the lead and it was unanimously decided that we would boycott the tour if Bhajji’s ban was upheld. Anil is one of the politest cricketers I have known but he is also very strong-minded. I have great admiration for the role he played as captain during this controversy. We decided to lodge an appeal against the ban and, in a gesture of protest, we also decided not to travel to Canberra – even though we had already loaded all our cricket gear into the bus. It was time for stern words and strong action.
The BCCI was behind us all the way and duly lodged a formal appeal contesting the ban. Mr VR Manohar, one of India’s legal luminaries, was handling our case. We had regular conversations with him and provided him with all the relevant details. I must reiterate that we were very serious about the boycott. If Bhajji’s ban was upheld, it would mean an acceptance of guilt and imply that Bhajji had racially abused Symonds, which he most certainly had not. We were fully prepared to accept the consequences of walking out of a tour, knowing that such an action might have resulted in the ICC banning the Indian team. The issue was now bigger than just Bhajji. Indians all over the world felt slighted and we felt it was our responsibility to stand up for our cause.
Having made our decision, we needed to find some way of reducing the tension. In the end we went to Bondi Beach and played a game of volleyball. It had a magical effect. It served as a fantastic team-bonding session and helped give us the determination to carry on. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the media followed us wherever we went, particularly Bhajji. On a lighter note, I remember saying to him that he must be the second most popular man in the world after Michael Jackson, with so many cameras following him. In fact, I called him MJ for some time during and after the controversy.
Third Test, Perth, 16–19 January 2008
Once we had lodged our appeal, we agreed to go to Perth for the third Test. On the eve of the match the ICC had flown in Ranjan Madugalle, its senior match referee, in an attempt to defuse the simmering tension between the two teams. A meeting was staged between the two captains at the Hyatt Hotel in Ranjan’s presence and Anil and Ricky shook hands for the cameras. In reality nothing had changed. The unpleasantness of Sydney would not go away and a number of issues remained to be straightened out at the WACA, where India had never won a Test.
The Perth Test turned out to be one of the best Test matches I was involved in. There is little doubt in my mind that the controversy had brought us together as a team. Sehwag was back and he gave us a quick start against Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and Stuart Clark on the first morning, helping us to win the first skirmish. He only scored 29 but it was enough to set the foundation for the middle order. Rahul and I then put together a very important partnership of 139.
It was in this innings that I had one of my toughest contests with Brett Lee. He bowled at real pace and I had to be at my best. I hadn’t been in long when Lee bowled a fast bouncer. The shot I played still gives me a lot of satisfaction. I readied myself to play the upper cut over the slips, but then I realized that the ball was jagging back at me at furious pace. Within a fraction of a second the ball was just inches away from my head. I kept my eyes on the ball and was leaning back at almost 45 degrees when I finally met the ball with the bat right in front of my eyes. The ball flew over the wicketkeeper’s head to the boundary. After that, I had a feeling it was going to be a good day. I went on to make 71 in our score of 330, with Dravid contributing 93.
Anil picked up his 600th Test wicket in Australia’s first innings when he had Symonds caught by Rahul at slips. Anil’s uncharacteristically exuberant celebration was an eye-opener for all of us and showed how much the wicket meant to the team after the Sydney Test. Breaking the partnership between Symonds and Gilchrist proved crucial. We went on to bowl Australia out for 212, with RP Singh taking four wickets, giving us a 118-run lead. We had set Australia a target of 413 and were beginning to scent victory. But there was still a job to be done and there was no room for complacency.
The final day was a classic piece of Test cricket. In fact, Ishant Sharma’s spell of fast bowling that morning was one of the best spells by an Indian bowler in all my years of international cricket. Ponting and Michael Hussey came in intent on staging a fightback after Irfan Pathan had picked up the two openers the previous evening. Anil had set a good field to Ponting and Ishant was given the ball. It was inspiring to see an Indian fast bowler bowl at real pace to one o
f the world’s premier batsmen and mesmerize him with balls that came in from a good length.
The length Ishant was hitting was the key. I was standing at mid on and kept reminding him to bowl the same line and length over and over again. There was no need for anything fancy, as he already had Ponting in some difficulty. I could also sense Ponting trying to upset Ishant by threatening to come forward, to force him to alter his length. It was a true test between bat and ball and I was impressed to see Ishant stick to doing exactly what had been asked of him.
By the end of eight overs Ishant showed no reduction in pace. He had beaten Ponting on numerous occasions but somehow the batsman had survived. It was an important moment. If he managed to play Ishant off, Ponting would be able to relax and we would have missed an opportunity. Anil, however, was tempted to give Ishant a rest – until some of the senior players persuaded him to allow Ishant one more go at Ponting.
The gamble paid off and Ishant finally got Ponting to edge one to Rahul at slip. It was a just reward for a great piece of fast bowling. We had our man and could now have a crack at the Australian middle order. We kept taking wickets at regular intervals and in the end it was the left-arm seamer RP Singh who clean-bowled Stuart Clark to give us an amazing victory.
Reasons to be cheerful
After the game a number of bottles of champagne were opened in the dressing room and one was also sent across to the touring Indian media contingent, who had played a very important role in standing behind us during the Sydney controversy. I’m pleased to say that Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist also came to our dressing room to congratulate us and it was a gesture that was much appreciated.
As I look back at the Perth Test a few things stand out. We arrived in Perth with a sense of purpose. We all felt hurt by what had transpired in Sydney and the best way to vent our anger was on the cricket field. And that is what we did.
The second thing I remember about Perth is the arrival of Gary Kirsten, who had been nominated as coach of India but who was yet to take charge. Gary did not say much at first and just wanted to observe how the Indian players went about their routines. It was Gary who suggested that the team should go cycling in Perth, to get our minds off cricket for a while. It certainly did us a lot of good. At such times net practice is not always the only answer. No one will ever become a Sunil Gavaskar or a Kapil Dev in two days of practice. It is just as important to recharge mentally and it often helps to spend some time together away from the cricket field.
Finally, the support of the fans was particularly memorable. We were 2–0 down in the series and a lot had been written about the fragility of the team on the fast and bouncy WACA track. None of this gloomy talk stopped the Indian fans from coming and lending their support. It was terrific to see the tricolour being waved in the stands and it was a reminder of what the game meant to Indians all round the world. It felt good to have made them proud.
We had proved that the Indian team could play within the spirit of the game both on and off the field.
Fourth Test, Adelaide, 24–28 January 2008
As we prepared for the final Test at Adelaide, Gary asked me if I wanted to bat in the nets and I said I’d prefer to practise to some short-pitched throw-downs. This was the start of a ritual that continued for four years, with Gary throwing hundreds of balls to me before every game. He never seemed to get tired and his commitment to the job was amazing.
When he asked me at Adelaide if I wanted to practise against short throw-downs, I asked him to throw full and fast at me, because I had a feeling Brett Lee would bowl a full-length delivery the moment I went in, as he had got me out with a full delivery at Perth. Sure enough, as soon as I walked out to bat at the Adelaide Oval, Lee bowled a delivery at my pads. I was prepared and instead of playing square, which perhaps he was expecting me to do, I played a straight drive past the umpire for four. After the stroke I looked towards Gary in our dressing room.
I went on to score 153 and we put more than 500 runs on the board, with Sehwag and Bhajji both scoring 63 and Kumble playing a captain’s innings down the order of 87. Australia batted just as well in response, with Hayden, Ponting and Clarke all making hundreds, and the match ended in a draw – but only after Sehwag had added an impressive 151 in our second innings. We had not managed to level the series but we had won back credibility and respect.
The final verdict
Before bringing down the curtain on the controversial ‘Monkeygate’ saga, as it had been dubbed in the press, Justice John Hansen heard everybody’s evidence in the appeal on 28 January 2008. I stated exactly what I had heard and seen and also said that I had taken exception to us being labelled ‘liars’ by the match referee, Mike Procter, who had mentioned in his statement that ‘I believe one group is telling the truth’. That he banned Bhajji for three Test matches seemed to us to show which group, in his opinion, was lying. It is never a pleasant thing to be called a liar and I was extremely angry.
In the end justice prevailed. The verdict of the appeal was that there was no evidence to suggest the use of a racist remark by Bhajji and the ban was lifted. Instead Bhajji was fined half of his match fee for using abusive language against Symonds. Bhajji could finally breathe a sigh of relief and we as a team felt vindicated.
* * *
India in Bangladesh 2007
1st Test. Chittagong. 18–22 May 2007
India 387–8 dec (SR Tendulkar 101, SC Ganguly 100, R Dravid 61, KD Karthik 56; M Mortaza 4–97, S Hossain 3–76) and 100–6 dec (SR Tendulkar 31; M Rafique 3–27, S Hossain 2–30)
Bangladesh 238 (M Mortaza 79, R Saleh 41; RP Singh 3–45, VRV Singh 3–48, SR Tendulkar 1–15) and 104–2 (J Omar 52*, H Bashar 37)
Match drawn
2nd Test. Dhaka. 25–27 May 2007
India 610–3 dec (W Jaffer 138, KD Karthik 129, R Dravid 129, SR Tendulkar 122*, MS Dhoni 51*; M Rafique 2–181)
Bangladesh 118 (Shakib-Al-Hasan 30; Z Khan 5–34, A Kumble 3–32) and 253 (f/o) (M Mortaza 70, M Ashraful 67; RR Powar 3–33, SR Tendulkar 2–35)
India won by an innings and 239 runs
India won the series 1–0
India in England 2007 – The Pataudi Trophy
1st Test. Lord’s. 19–23 July 2007
England 298 (AJ Strauss 96, MP Vaughan 79; S Sreesanth 3–67) and 282 (KP Pietersen 134, MJ Prior 42; RP Singh 5–59, Z Khan 4–79)
India 201 (W Jaffer 58, SR Tendulkar 37; JM Anderson 5–42, RJ Sidebottom 4–65) and 282–9 (MS Dhoni 76*, KD Karthik 60, SR Tendulkar 16; CT Tremlett 3–52, RJ Sidebottom 2–42, MS Panesar 2–63, JM Anderson 2–83)
Match drawn
2nd Test. Nottingham. 27–31 July 2007
England 198 (AN Cook 43; Z Khan 4–59, A Kumble 3–32) and 355 (MP Vaughan 124, PD Collingwood 63, AJ Strauss 55; Z Khan 5–75, A Kumble 3–104)
India 481 (SR Tendulkar 91, SC Ganguly 79, KD Karthik 77, W Jaffer 62, VVS Laxman 54; MS Panesar 4–101, CT Tremlett 3–80) and 73–3 (KD Karthik 22, W Jaffer 22, SR Tendulkar 1; CT Tremlett 3–12)
India won by 7 wickets
3rd Test. The Oval. 9–13 August 2007
India 664 (A Kumble 110*, MS Dhoni 92, KD Karthik 91, SR Tendulkar 82, R Dravid 55, VVS Laxman 51; JM Anderson 4–182) and 180–6 dec (SC Ganguly 57, SR Tendulkar 1; PD Collingwood 2–24, JM Anderson 2–34, CT Tremlett 2–58)
England 345 (IR Bell 63, PD Collingwood 62, AN Cook 61; Z Khan 3–32, A Kumble 3–94, SR Tendulkar 1–26) and 369–6 (KP Pietersen 101, IR Bell 67; S Sreesanth 3–53)
Match drawn
India won the series 1–0
India in Australia 2007–08 – The Border-Gavaskar Trophy
1st Test. Melbourne. 26–29 December 2007
Australia 343 (ML Hayden 124, PA Jaques 66; A Kumble 5–84, Z Khan 4–94) and 351–7 dec (MJ Clarke 73, PA Jaques 51; H Singh 3–101).
India 196 (SR Tendulkar 62, SC Ganguly 43; SR Clark 4–28, B Lee
4–46) and 161 (VVS Laxman 42, SC Ganguly 40, SR Tendulkar 15; MG Johnson 3–21, B Lee 2–43, GB Hogg 2–51)
Australia won by 337 runs
2nd Test. Sydney. 2–6 January 2008
Australia 463 (A Symonds 162*, GB Hogg 79, B Lee 59, RT Ponting 55; A Kumble 4–106, RP Singh 4–124) and 401–7 dec (MEK Hussey 145*, ML Hayden 123, A Symonds 61; A Kumble 4–148)
India 532 (SR Tendulkar 154*, VVS Laxman 109, SC Ganguly 67, H Singh 63, R Dravid 53; B Lee 5–119) and 210 (SC Ganguly 51, A Kumble 45*, SR Tendulkar 12; MJ Clarke 3–5, A Symonds 3–51)
Australia won by 122 runs
3rd Test. Perth. 16–19 January 2008
India 330 (R Dravid 93, SR Tendulkar 71; MG Johnson 4–86, B Lee 3–71) and 294 (VVS Laxman 79, IK Pathan 46, SR Tendulkar 13; SR Clark 4–61, B Lee 3–54)
Australia 212 (A Symonds 66, AC Gilchrist 55; RP Singh 4–68, I Sharma 2–34, A Kumble 2–42) and 340 (MJ Clarke 81, MG Johnson 50*, MEK Hussey 46; IK Pathan 3–54, V Sehwag 2–24)
India won by 72 runs
4th Test. Adelaide. 24–28 January 2008
India 526 (SR Tendulkar 153, A Kumble 87, V Sehwag 63, H Singh 63, VVS Laxman 51; MG Johnson 4–126, B Lee 3–101) and 269–7 dec (V Sehwag 151, SR Tendulkar 13; MG Johnson 2–33, B Lee 2–74)
Australia 563 (RT Ponting 140, MJ Clarke 118, ML Hayden 103, PA Jaques 60; IK Pathan 3–112, I Sharma 3–115, V Sehwag 2–51)
Playing It My Way: My Autobiography Page 30