by AFP article. Taken from
http://SportToday.org/
Ganguly claims that all the Indians did was ask "Was it close, going down
legside?"
Pretty similar, I should think, to asking, "How was I out? LBW? How?", I
should think...
-Samarth.
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SYDNEY, Dec 5 (AFP) - India were again reported for
dissent on their way to a
convincing 93-run victory over New South Wales on the
final day of their four-day
cricket tour match at the Sydney Cricket Ground Sunday.
International umpires Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel first
reported replacement
Indian captain Saurav Ganguly for standing mid-pitch
watching big screen replays
of unsuccessful appeals on Saturday night.
Match referee*** French, a former Test umpire, again
Sunday handed a report
from the match umpires to Indian team management.
On Sunday Taufel had words with Javagal Srinath after a
rejected lbw appeal and on
the next ball, after fellow paceman Venkatesh Prasad was
denied a catch behind,
Hair again called out Ganguly for a team reprimand.
But Indian team coach Kapil Dev after the match seemed to
indicate he would not
act on the reports.
''I don't have to really reply if I don't feel like it,''
Dev said. ''If necessary I might do
it. I'm not sitting on a horse for a dash. I'll take my
own sweet time. It's the
beginning of the tour.
''We've got the letter and we'll see what we can do. I
don't know what's crossing
the limit - that's when two different people think
differently.''
Chasing 286 runs for victory on a wearing pitch offering
variable bounce, NSW went
from 64 for one overnight to be all out for 192.
Leg spinner Anil Kumble, who has 32 wickets in four Tests
against Australia,
claimed the last four to have 8-88 for the match in an
impressive warm up for
Friday's opening Test against Australia at Adelaide Oval.
Rookie opener Greg Hayne laboured five and a half hours
for 89, his maiden
first-class half-century in his fourth game for NSW.
The confrontations were the last thing the Australian
Cricket Board needed after the
controversy over Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar's bowling
action last month.
Hair, who no-balled Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan at the
Melbourne Cricket
Ground, is likely to officiate in one of the three Indian
Tests.
Kapil Dev Saturday took offence at Hair telling Ganguly
that Pakistan had been told
they would not be allowed to disrupt the game by watching
replays and commenting
on them and neither would India.
He said Hair had told Ganguly: ''First the Pakistanis and
now why are you Indians
doing it?''
Ganguly said afterwards of the report: ''It's a job for
the management. Sometimes
we do get carried away on the field but we all make
mistakes so we should all just
forget it on the cricket field.
''Today we just asked what happened. Was it close, going
down legside?''
The match was outside the jurisdiction of the ACB and the
ICC as it was neither a
Test nor a one-day international.
However, NSW captain Michael Bevan said the Indians'
approach could backfire in
the three-Test series.
''They were certainly pretty aggressive in terms of
appealing and things like putting
pressure on the umpires,'' Bevan said.
''But I don't think they'll get some of the decisions they
do at home and it probably
might work against them.''
Bevan said there was a bit of sledging both ways but it
wasn't overboard.
''They've got some good Test players but I don't think
that's going to be the major issue deciding
the series,'' he said.
''You'd expect if there's a bit of bounce there the
Australians would win but if they're low and
slow the Indians are probably 50-50.''
The Indians are bidding to reverse an unflattering record
of two away series wins abroad in 28
years.
Stung by a ten-wicket thrashing in the tour opener in
Brisbane a week ago, then rolled for 185 in
the first innings here by NSW, India fought back doggedly.
Australia are likely to face a more aggressive Indian side
than the one that lost 4-0 on the last tour
here eight years ago.