No matter how fiercely the Australian skipper defended himself, his fate was sealed by the television replays that detailed the truth. Joining him in the ranks was his deputy Adam Gilchrist, very famous ly considered a honest walker, who straight away appealed twice for caught behind when there was no evidence clearly of the bat involved anyway. He got Rahul Dravid off Andrew Symonds though Gilchrist wasn’t too lucky against Dhoni.

Australia’s next skipper in the making is not totally unrelated to this school of thought either. Clarke waited for the umpire to give him out despite a big edge that went into second slip yesterday before claiming a Sourav Ganguly catch that clearly bounced before his hand. Ganguly stood his ground while Benson, keeping in mind the agreement between two skippers, asked Ponting who signaled out with a raised finger after consulting Clarke who indicated in the affirmative.

Then there’s Symonds, who stood his ground after getting a nick and then admitted it openly and carried on to bat the next day. Matthew Hayden, too, admitted yesterday that there’s nothing wrong in waiting for the umpire’s finger to go up even when you know you are out.

Obviously, the pressure to make the record-equaling 16th Test victory was too much to handle for the world-beaters to approach it with the right spirit and the Indian team certainly minced no words about that. “We’d like to play hard on the field and expect that from the Australians as well,” Kumble said.

... contd.