By IANS
Sydney : Legendry Australian captain Steve Waugh, whose world record of 16 consecutive Test wins was equalled by his successor Ricky Ponting in the second Test match here Sunday, said the magnificent Test match will probably be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
“This was a game that pushed people to the limits. It’s a real pity this magnificent Test match will probably be remembered for all the wrong reasons – and not for the outstanding quality, pressure and the excruciating drama it ultimately provided,” Waugh wrote in his columns in The Daily Telegraph, referring to the Test match, which was marred by erroneous umpiring by Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson and Harbhajan Singh being banned for an alleged racial remark at Andrew Symonds.
“Umpires continually had to make crucial and often difficult decisions. And all this while off-field officials scrambled to decipher the on-field controversy.
“Heading up a slew of hot topics was the Harbhajan-Symonds exchange. That quickly spiralled out of control, with emotions over-riding the need to think clearly and concisely about the ramifications,” said the former Australian captain.
Waugh went on to add that perhaps a better outcome may have been for both captains, coaches and named players to get together at the end of the day’s play and work out a solution before they went past the point of no return – which now has the potential to affect relations between both countries.
“Of course there are always going to be two versions of what happened and no doubt Ricky (Ponting) wanted to support his own team mate, especially after Andrew Symonds’ treatment on the recent Indian tour,” said Waugh.
The former Australian captain pointed out that problems would always arise when it’s one person’s word against another.
“At the centre of the controversy is the alleged use of the word “monkey” which, if Harbhajan did say it, is both puerile and stupid after he was warned during the last one-day series. Clearly this can be viewed as racist but many on the sub-continent also see it as their way of “taking the mickey”,” said Waugh.