Andrew Symonds called it the moment he realized the full amount of politics and money in cricket, while former captain Ricky Ponting said it was the beginning of the end for the talented all-rounder.
Monkeygate. Even 14 years later, it is a word that angers Australian cricket fans when the visiting Indian team threatens to abandon a series after a heated and finally ugly Test match at the SCG.
The flashpoint came during India’s first innings, when Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar put on 129 runs.
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Australians have claimed that Harbhajan called Symonds a “monkey”, a charge leveled at him during an ODI before the scandal. Harbhajan insists that he has used the Hindi slang ‘Teri Ma Ki’.
The spinner was subsequently banned for three matches, a penalty that saw the visiting Indians threaten to fly home.
The Sydney Morning Herald has called for the removal of top columnist Peter Roebuck Ponting from the captaincy, after the BCCI issued an inflammatory statement that Cricket Australia had lost control, saying in part: “The Indian board does not accept the results. Has decided to challenge the unjust decision to do so because it clearly feels unjust.
“The board will fight against shameless lies and unjustified slander against an Indian player.”
Although it was decided to postpone the hearing of the appeal till the end of the Test series, in his book Whitewash to whitewashExamining the period from 2006-07 to 2013-14, Daniel Bretig writes that Cricket Australia’s main focus was on visiting Indians instead of its own players.
Symonds great run out
“(Cricket Australia) was initially concerned about saving the tour,” he wrote.
“For them, the word of Symonds and other players was a secondary concern to the CA and the states about the possibility of losing $ 60 million in revenue, which would be sought by the broadcasters if the Indian squad left home and their rights were violated.
“The board’s intention was to reduce the Harbhajan charge from a level-three racial allegation to a less serious level-two. There was little thought for the welfare of the players, which many board members consider valuable and extra money.”
During the appeal, Harbhajan lowered his penalty and fined, angering Australian players at the thought that CA had fallen into the hands of the powerful BCCI.
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“I think this will be the moment where my whole personality has changed in cricket. I haven’t understood politics, power, money till this moment in my career,” Symonds told Fox Cricket in 2018.
“I don’t understand how strong a player is, an event, how much money is at risk and its impact.”
“I went down very quickly after that because I felt responsible for my four companions, the closest companions that I had pulled into this whole situation and it carried a very heavy burden on me,” he said.
“I started drinking too much and my cricket, my mentality – I started going downhill, I wasn’t exactly in the frame of mind.”
Symonds was the man of the match in that SCG Test, scoring 162 not out and 61, and also taking three wickets in the final innings. Yet his slides were so fast that the following year he played the last of his 238 international matches.
“Worst of all, it affected Simo. I tried to protect him from most of what was happening before the hearing, but when it was done I think it took the wind out of him. Paul,” Ponting wrote in his autobiography. At the end of the game.
“He never found the limelight; he loved his game and was brilliant at it but the attention that came with it never sat well with him.
“Simo has gone a long way since this moment and it still makes me angry.”
Ponting’s successor Michael Clarke also felt the whole thing had an impact on the all-rounder.
Clarke wrote in his autobiography, “He (Symonds) was the main victim of the Monkeygate, he was more of a man than a punter, who felt that Cricket Australia had hung him to dry,” Clarke wrote in his autobiography. My story.
Symonds and Harbhajan later became Mumbai Indians’ teammates in the Indian Premier League. Speaking after Symonds’ death on Sunday, the off-spinner said the pair had buried Hatchett, eventually becoming unlikely among friends.
“I was shocked when I … saw my phone and I was devastated to hear that Andrew was no more. I still can’t believe Andrew is no more because he’s a strong man and what happened is very sad. Things. My condolences to the family and friends and the loss for all of us, “he told Star Sports.
“Wherever you are, we want you to rest in peace and you will be missed.
“Of course we have a lot of history. Thanks to the IPL and the Mumbai Indians for keeping the two of us in the same dressing room. And once I got to know such a beautiful man, we became very good friends,” said Harbhajan.
“We would sit together, drink, laugh. He shared a lot of stories. He was the one I could call at 2.30 in the morning and say, ‘Hey mate, what are you doing, what are you doing? Let’s do it, let’s see’ and he Get ready. “
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