Sourav Ganguly has played down concerns over Australia's behaviour on the field, admitting he admired the team's fierce determination to win the controversial second Test.
CANBERRA: Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has played down concerns over Australia's behaviour on the field, admitting he admired the team's fierce determination to win the controversial second Test.
Australia have been widely criticised -- including by former players -- since the match for their aggressive tactics, particularly on the last day. And there have even been calls for captain Ricky Ponting to be sacked.
Ponting's men won the match by 122 runs to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Ganguly believes better umpiring could have prevented much of the ill will generated by the Test and conceded the poor relations between the sides was disappointing for cricket.
But he admitted a grudging respect for the hard-nosed Australians.
"Sometimes things happen in the heat of the moment," he told sports channel ESPN on Friday during India's three-day tour match against the Australian Capital Territory XI. "But I also quietly admired how desperate they were to win. That's not a bad thing in sport. It showed why they win so many Test matches."
But Ganguly maintained that a number of costly decisions went against the Indians.
He himself was controversially given out for 51 in the second innings in Sydney after standing his ground when Australian fielder Michael Clarke claimed he had taken a low catch in slips.
Ganguly said umpire Mark Benson, who accepted the word of Clarke, should have consulted Steve Bucknor before giving him out.
"I thought he (Benson) could have done a better job speaking to Steve Bucknor as well," he said. "The moment he caught it, I nicked it and turned back and saw it didn't carry. But that's the way is."
Even though the captains had agreed to an honour system before the series, Ganguly said there were times in Sydney when the umpires needed to take more responsibility.
"If it's a decision by the captains then I think in modern day cricket it's fine," he said.
"But the umpires have a responsibility too. You can leave it to the fielders but the umpires have to make a judgment and I think the umpires should interfere if they feel it's a 50-50."
In the wake of the match, spinner Harbharjan Singh was given a three-Test suspension (pending appeal) for alleged racial abuse, while there was a code of conduct charge against Australian Brad Hogg and claims of poor sportsmanship by the Australians.
There was also widespread criticism of the standard of umpiring, with Bucknor being axed from the upcoming third Test at Perth's WACA Ground.
On top of that there was talk of India abandoning the tour, before they decided to go ahead with the match against the ACT XI.
However, Ganguly said spirits were high in the Indian camp, although he admitted he went into the Test series under-prepared.
"It's a happy team," he said.
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