As he walked back, Rahul Dravid could be seen laughing, shaking his head at Bucknor’s decision ruling him out.

Sourav Ganguly was next, adjudged caught by Michael Clarke at second slip when there was considerable doubt about the ball carrying — in fact TV replays showed the ball hit the ground. As Ganguly stood his ground, umpire Benson chose to go by Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke’s word. Ganguly left reluctantly.

The umpires saw their wrong acts on the giant screen even before Dravid and Ganguly left the ground but didn’t call back the players — England’s Kevin Peitersen was called back during India’s first Test at Lord’s.

Ponting, meanwhile, defended Bucknor and Benson. “The players haven’t lost their confidence in the umpires. Everybody realizes that they are trying to do their best,” he said.

Upstairs, in one of the glass cases at the SCG boxes, Sunil Gavaskar, head of the ICC cricket committee, was fuming. “This is utter nonsense. They have robbed the sheen of a good Test match,” he said on air.