The 2007-08 test series between India and Australia was certainly one of the most controversial series of all time. Especially, the Sydney test is still very fresh in the memory of every Indian cricket fan as the mod decisions robbed India’s chances of winning that match.
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Apart from the bad decisions, the monkey-gate incident was also an important event of that match. During the game, Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh were engaged in a verbal battle. Symonds accused Harbhajan of making racial claims towards him by calling him a monkey.
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However, Harbhajan said that he did not say the same and just said an Indian abuse that sounded similar to a monkey. The matter went ahead, and the Indian spinner was banned from the next test in Perth. During that time, Harbhajan got support from all of his senior players.
Adam Gilchrist accused Sachin Tendulkar of changing statements
Adam Gilchrist, who was a prominent name in the Australian team at that time, accused Sachin of changing statements to save Harbhajan. Harbhajan was handed a 3-match ban, but when Tendulkar gave his statement, it got reduced to just one match considering his stature.
Gilchrist was quite unhappy with Sachin, and he accused him of changing his statements. He said that first Sachin said that he could not hear anything he was quite far from where the incident happened, and it was the same case as well. However, he changed his statement at the end to save Harbhajan.
“Tendulkar, who’d said at the first hearing that he hadn’t been able to hear what Harbhajan had said — and he was a fair way away, up the other end, so I’m certain he was telling the truth — now supported Harbhajan’s version that he hadn’t called Symo a ‘monkey’ but instead a Hindi term of abuse that might sound like ‘monkey’ to Australian ears,” Adam Gilchrist wrote in his book True Colours.
Harbhajan was forced to miss the Perth test, and the Indian team registered an excellent win in that match. Harbhajan came onto the ground in Perth with the Indian flag to celebrate India’s famous win.
