The second test match between India and Australia in Bangalore of the Border-Gavaskar series will find a place in the history books, highlighting India’s dramatic comeback where they ultimately went on to win the match quite comfortably. The match however didn’t pass by without its fair share of controversies as has been the case many times when these two teams play each other. There was a palpable tension in the air during the initial stages of the match when Ishant Sharma started mimicking the Australian captain Steven Smith and was encouraged by Indian captain Virat Kohli. This however has largely been overshadowed by the more serious controversy, once again concerning Virat Kohli and Steven Smith. Kohli was apparently irked by the fact that Smith looked up to the dressing room and consulted his team mates before going for a review. He said that the Australian team had crossed the line as far as the protocols for taking a review go. These allegations from Kohli, stirred up a lot of memories from the infamous monkey gate incident between India and Australia in 2007.
Kohli’s claims were also vociferously supported by ace Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who said that he hadn’t seen such behaviour from an international cricket team. He even lay emphasis on the fact that he hadn’t seen cricketers turn to the dressing room for help since his under 10 days when the coach of the team used to take all the major decisions.
The Australians however denied that they had crossed any line. Australian coach Darren Lehmann came out in support on Smith and said that the Australians pride themselves on their sportsman spirit and that they play the game in the right way. Lehmann further went on to state that the Australian team has now changed their attitude on the field and so not intentionally provoke opponents as was the case during his playing days. The CEO of cricket Australia, James Sutherland was more vocal in his support of Smith and slammed Kohli’s allegations as ‘outrageous’.He went on to praise Smith, saying that he is an outstanding cricketer and person and aspiring cricketers should look up to Smith as a role model.
The ICC intervened saying that it will not take action against either of the players and was hopeful that neither of the boards will take this issue forward. The ICC CEO Dave Richardson said in a statement “We have just witnessed a magnificent game of Test cricket where players from both teams gave their all and emotions were running high during and after the match. We would encourage both teams to focus their energies on the third Test in Ranchi next week. Ahead of that, the match referee will bring both captains together to remind them of their responsibilities to the game.”
The next test between these two teams is scheduled to be held on March 16th. With the deep intensity and passion with which both teams play the game one can certainly expect to see tempers flaring up.
