Filed under Cricket Controversies Ind v Aus Sydney test 2008

Australia had won the first test at Melbourne, comprehensively, but more importantly, that was their 15th consecutive win in test cricket where draw & loss are two other results..

World Record stood at 16.

Now we start this special "picture article" of second test at Sydney with jubilant Rudra Pratap Singh, the Indian left arm fast bowler who found himself as pace spearhead of India after Zaheer Khan was ruled unfit minutes before this test match started. 2nd Jan 2008 it was, when another sad chapter in cricket controversies started to unfold.

Rudra Pratap had hit that perfect length right from first delivery, swinging it away from both left-handed openers (Hayden-Jaques) from home team and proving right the comment his Captain (Anil Kumble) had made at the toss, which he lost.. "well it's alright. we've to bowl well - first or second doesn't matter".

Phil Jaques is a steady opening batsman when he first starts but his orders were to look for runs immediately. Under the amount of movement & carry Indian pacers were extracting in the first session, Jaques had only one place to go and that's called pavilion! This was his first duck after this left handed opener had score 4 over-fifties in a succession... no wonder he's dissappointed

Ricky Ponting loves Jon Bon Jovi, and the song "It's my life.. its now or never. I ain't gonna live for ever". I must admit this song is among my fav 5 too, and I admire the pull shots Ponting plays, as he's doing in this picture while he came out counter-attacking since Indians had taken 2 early wickets. Bon Jovi song is perfect for anyone looking to achieve the very best.. not for those who get satisfied.

With Jaques out of line, Ricky had made sure he plays some deliveries from the fast bowlers before he had to negotiate Indian spinners.. which is always good idea when you aren't sure which way the ball is going to spin. Ricky Ponting had scored back to back centuries in the previous series against New Zealand but his form in this test series wasn't as impressive.. in fact, very poor!

Bhajji show starts : sooner than expected. Ponting was 55 & rising. Kumble turns to Bhajji. 10 balls later - Aussie captain got leg before wicket.. Bad Umpiring No.1, by Umpire Bensen as Ponting had hit the ball!

Bad Umpiring No.2 came from Steve Bucknor who's 61 years old and couldn't hear a big edge from Symonds bat to give Ishant Sharma his first wicket on Australian soil.. Symonds stood his ground, big appeal and Indians couldn't believe. Commentators were out of words to explains what West Indian umpire was up to. no wonder the 19 year old pace bowler wants to hide in those long long hair he has!!

Ishant sharma ended up giving 200 odd runs in this test match but couldn't get a single wicket.. not the kind of start you want to make as someone who is playing just 2nd test match in career. Ishant bowled quick, straight & hit the correct length but missed the luck and didn't bribe the umpires either!

All was never well between Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh, and this time Aussie team were 121 for 5 when Muscular man had arrived to bat. This photo is also the 'Itsonlycricket.com picture of Sydney test match 2008'.

They were not looking at each other, talking is out of question but where they ready to give an inch away in this thrilling test match?? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I still wonder what is the ICC rule for a bowler fielding on the side where batsmen is running.. we always have collisions happening right in front of the umpire at the non-striking end. the man under the blue helmet at Dinesh Karthik who had come in as a substitute for Sourav Ganguly.

Brad Hogg had 4 first class centuries before this picture was taken. the moment the cameramen had pressed the button, this left handed Western Australian was batting like he'll complete triple century in three hours! The drives, the pull shots and the flicks were hitting the middle of this number 7 batsman who was in Australian team primarily because Shane Warne had retired and Stuart McGill pull out of the series to operate his finger and also to lose some weight before he again plays for Australia.

George Brad Hogg finally got out for 79 off 102, but not before seeing Australia to a respectable first innings total which was fast becoming threating with some tailenders to come..

Andrew Symonds, after hogg, had found good support in bowlers Brett Lee & Mitchell Johnson and went on to smash 162 runs without being dismissed.. forget about him being out on 30 (edge off Ishant Sharma) and 48 (stumped by Dhoni), it was a brilliant innings by Queensland allrounder.

Indian players not only applauded the century he made, but also made sure they shake hands with the centurian.. interestingly, both Indians cricketers you see in the picture also scored a century themselves... talk about luck rubbing off!!

India's first Innings started with Wasim Jaffer bowled by a Yorker by Brett Lee, which was a no ball not called by Umpire Bensen.. Bad Umpiring No.3.. but Laxman lead Indian fight back with familiar wristy flicks & backfoot drives. Timing from Hyderabad batsman in this innings was just perfect.

Mitchell Johnson, who was blessed with lady luck around the time this Sydney test match was played, but his luck with the ball seemed to have dis-appeared! Day 2 of this SCG test match didn't offer much movemenet for the left-arm seamer, who toiled hard and bowled over 140 kmph regularly.

Sachin Tendulkar is a master batsman who never lets an opportunity go. He was getting out in the nineties regularly until this Sydney test match where he scored his back-to-back third century and was not dismissed for straight 3rd innings he batted at the ground! 148, 241*, 61* and 152 not out he made this time, sending aussie bowlers on tremendous leather chase they'll like to forget sooner than later..

We'll never know whether Harbhajan Singh said something wrong to Andrew Symonds or not (as 20odd cameras at the stadium or the micro-phones didn't catch anything) but Ricky Ponting had plenty to say to the off-spinner as he was developing the record 8th wicket partnerhip with Sachin Tendulkar. One moment, Harbhajan Singh defended the last ball of the over, walked towards Andrew Symonds and called him forward. Symonds was changing his fielding position since bowling was to be done from other end, and didn't care too much to Bhajji who was moving with him. Picture in the left side is where Ricky Ponting was sharing his thought on the matter with Harbhajan (as Tendulkar looks on) whereas picture on right side shows Umpire Mark Bensen speaks to Bhajji with (finger on mouth so that camera's can't pick what he's saying) as Umpire Steve Bucknor and Sachin Tendulkar watch from opposite ends. This was the start of biased nature shown by the on-field umpires who never cared about what was the complete matter but were eager to show their anger on Indian spinner. It, never the less, broke the concentration of the off spinner who got out within few balls after the incidence and Aussies took back the charge of the test match

Australia's second Innings, after conceding 69 run lead, had started well. Opening partnership of 85, but Indians were bowling well & very tight. Sydney ground is known for assisting spinners and today's case wasn't different. Kumble and Harbhajan were having on:off = 1:9 field settings, drying up the run rate. Mathew Hayden (on left hand side) struck a responsible century, specially punctuated with reverse sweeps which Michael Hussey (on right picture) executed well on 5th and final day of this Sydney test match. Austalian batting was building lead brick by brick and Michael Hussey who is not known to play spinners well, notched up another unbeaten century which means his batting average (which is already second best in the world) would go up even higher towards Don Bradman. Effectively, Hussey was frustrating Indians who were looking to wrap up their innings and chase a possible 4th innings target.

Ricky Ponting set 333 for India in 72 overs!

Wasim Jaffer was first to go.. again caught behind between keeper and first slip off a Brett Lee delivery. Australians knew how good Jaffer is on the back-foot and thus they made sure they bowl enough deliveries at front-foot length so that Indian opener would edge. Brett Lee might not be effective all the time, but he had the measure of Jaffer in this second test match at Sydney between India and Australia.

VVS Laxman was next to go, trapped lbw by Stuart Clark who was bowling stump to stump with wicket keeper standing up for Sachin Tendulkar (in next picture). This right handed New South Wales bowler was ineffective in the first innings of India but missing out twice on home ground was out of question. Stuart Clark started Indian demolition in the 2nd innings on the last day of this test match and famous Indian batting looked under lots of pressure seeing so many fielders around them. They couldn't score run, and couldn't help playing across the line. Stuart Clark, the lanky 6 feet 5 inches bowler was proving leathal for the visitors. Laxman got on ball of keep low (like he always does) whereas Sachin Tendulkar was trying to leave a delivery which hit the back of his bat and broke the stumps on its way.. India were reduced to 3 wickets for just 54 runs.

In his introductory video, Andrew Symonds says "Hi,I'm Andrew Symonds.. right handed batsman, right arm medium pace bowler, right arm off spin bowler". And on 6th Januray 2008, it was his off-spinning deliveries that caused many a problems for Indian batting on a detoriating Sydney pitch. Symonds had learnt a few tricks from his rivalry with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh ans he gave the ball lots of air and hit good lengths as Indian batsmen were under pressure to keep their wickets intact!

Sourav Ganguly had joined the lone battle Rahul Dravid was fighting. for the first (and only) time in this second test second innings, Indian batsmen counter-attacked and winning target looked possible. Ganguly was playing his shots whereas Dravid was his usual self like rock solid in defence at the other end. a flighted delivery from Symonds didn't turn, kissed Dravid's pads and went into Keeper Gilchrist's gloves. Huge appeal and Umpire Bucknor raises his finger. Bad Umpiring No.4. It must be noted that Jamiacan umpire is nick named "slow death" for the time he always takes before ruling a batsman out.. but he was exceptionally quick in raising finger in case of Dravid.. Sourav Ganguly in other picture had edged a brett Lee delivery to Michael Clarke at second slip. ball bounced before reaching Clarke's hands and he again grassed it while rolling over after taking the low catch.. yet, he said the catch was clean and Captain Ricky Ponting shows the finger to Sourav Ganguly in the picture.. surprising was Umpire Mark Bensen asking the opinion of Aussie captain instead of his partner umpire at square leg or referring the decision to third umpire. Bad Umpiring No.5. It should also be noted that Ricky Ponting had himself grounded one catch just few overs earlier, on which he screamed HOW'S THAT!!!

Michael Clarke was the trump card for australia at Mumbai 3 years ago where he took 6 wickets for 15 runs. Today at Sydney, he was again called up on duty by captain ponting. Clarke's left arm spinners - some slow some fast - proved too hot to handle for the tail enders.

Rudra Pratap was found in front of the wicket where as Ishant Sharma nicked one to Michael Hussey at the slips as Anil Kumble was left lone at the non-striking end as Aussies ran away with this controversial test match.

So, Ricky gets his 16 wins in a row. Not sure Steve Waugh (who also won 16 tests for Australia as captain) would be happy the way Aussies behaved, sledged, forgot the sportsman spirit & also complained wrong racism remarks in this test match, but Ricky was happy. IT'S HIS LIFE AND IT HAD HAPPENED!

Above-picture from India vs Austalia 2nd test match (Sydney) 2008 has umpires, Mark Bensen & Steve Bucknor congratulate each other on a job very well done. Mission accomplished!

Above-picture shows the news papers in India the next morning! the best headline according to me was by The Indian Express - Team India caught Bensen bowled Bucknor!

My brother always says - common people in crowd can only clap, or burn the dummys. but this time, matter had gone over the head, more so because ICC Match referee had banned Harbhajan Singh for 3 test match after 6 hour meeting right after this sad & controversial test match ended. Words from gentleman Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was ignored by Match Referee Mike Procter from South Africa whereas what Michael Clarke & Andrew Symonds said - were believed! I repeat, there was no audio or video evidence to prove the allegations.

Fire in Indian fan's belly got more fuel & Indian cricket board came out strong by keeping their players into Sydney hotels and not moving forward on the scheduled tour itinerary. More updates on this test match to follow as soon as news comes in, but I wonder this sad chapter in the great game of cricket can ever be deleted!?!

Dhoni's six, Ganga's "controvertial" catch and Lara's irritation..!!

Some Toronto memories, specially Injamam's batting in the spectators stands.

Darrell Hair wins Oval test for England..!!

Listen what Sourav Ganguly is saying.

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif test positive.

Ricky Ponting must apologise to Mr. Sharad Powar.

Bhajji banned for calling Symonds a Monkey.

India v Australia, Sydney test match 2008 : in Pictures

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Preview : Second test, second chance - Sydney!

Day 1 : Roy & Hogg spoil RP's & Bhajji's party

Day 2 : Pendulum hangs in balance

Day 3 : Sydney suspense continues as Indian tail wag

Day 4 : Aus ahead : India patient : Draw favorite

Australia snatch 16th, CONTROVERSIALLY

Bhajji banned for calling Symonds a Monkey.

Sydney test should be abandoned, if tour continues

India v Australia, Sydney test match 2008 : in Pictures

India set Australia a target of 413