The India-Australia rivalry has been one of the most followed rivalries in world cricket. It started under Sourav Ganguly and Steve Waugh in the early 2000 and now the likes of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and David Warner are keeping it going.
India are in Australia for yet another series down under and we look at the top 5 controversial moments from this epic rivalry. Meanwhile, the countdown has begun for the much-awaited Test series.
Top 5 controversial moments From India-Australia Rivalry:
5. The Monkeygate Scandal
This is perhaps the most memorable controversy from this epic rivalry. Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds were at war against each other in the 2007-08 series. India were under the leadership of Anil Kumble back then. Symonds took the attack to the off-spinner in the Adelaide Test match.
At the end of one particular over, Harbhajan Singh said Teri Maa Ki to Symonds, which is a Hindi slang. Symonds misunderstood it as if Harbhajan has called him a monkey. This led to a big ruckus with the Indian team almost pulling out of the series. Meanwhile, India under MS Dhoni won the CB series which also included Sri Lanka as the third competing team.
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4. Virat Kohli-James Faulkner
In the third ODI at the MCG, James Faulkner tried to get under the skin of Virat Kohli. Kohli retaliated in the sweetest ways possible as his response was, “You’re wasting your energy. There’s no point. I’ve smashed you enough in my life. Just go and bowl.”
In that innings of 117, Kohli took s special liking to Faulkner. India however, lost the game but the Faulker-Kohli verbal dual was one of the highlights of the game.
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3. Rishabh Pant-Tim Paine
Tim Paine asked Rishabh Pant to babysit his kids in India’s 2018-19 tour down under. Pant on his behalf was smart enough to answer him back saying Paine was Australia’s temporary captain.
“Tell you what big MS is back in the one-day squad. Should get this bloke down to Hurricanes. They need a batter. Fancy that extend your Aussie holiday, beautiful town Hobart too… get him a waterfront apartment.”
He also continued, “Have him over for dinner. Do you babysit? I can take my wife to the movies while you watch the kids.”
Pant retorted when Paine came into bat “We have got a special guest here. Have you heard the word temporary captain ever? You [Jadeja] don’t need anything to get him out. Come on lads.”
However, later on, Tim Paine was wise enough to bring Pant to his home and meet his wife and kids in person.
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2. Ricky Ponting-Ishant Sharma
The 2007-08 tour was Ishant Sharma’s first to Australia. In his very first tour, he made former Australian skipper Ricky Poting dance to his tunes. In the Perth test match, Ponting played all ends up to Ishant’s superb spell of bowling. Seeing that Ishant was almost unplayable, Ponting tried to disturb Ishant’s concentration with a few words.
As it turned out, after struggling for a period of time against the lanky pacer, Ponting finally got out to a delivery where he was caught at slip. That spell of Ishant Sharma is one of the best spells bowled on Australian soil.
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1. Sourav Ganguly-Andrew Symonds
It was the first match of the ODI series between India and Australia in 2004 at Melbourne, Australia had racked up a good score before Ajit Agarkar struck crucial blows packing out the Australia tailenders. Chasing the target, India lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag early. Ganguly batted at number three in that game. He pulled out from one of the deliveries bowled by Symonds which ended up on Adam Gilchrist’s gloves.
This fired up Symonds and he made a verbal attack on Ganguly for missing out on a few deliveries. Ganguly then brought the best out of him playing a counter-attacking innings. He scored 82 from 83 deliveries that saw him clubbing 6 boundaries and 1 six. In the process, he took a special liking to the Aussie all-rounder.
India however, ended up losing the encounter but Ganguly’s innings was one to watch out for.
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