[6] Controversies abounded; as well as the multiple umpiring incidents that were placed in the spotlight by the narrowness of the victory, Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was charged with racial abuse in an altercation with Andrew Symonds.

[7] The match produced bitterness on both sides and an announcement by the Indian team that they would abandon their tour, followed by dramatic intervention by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Australia had won the first Test played the previous week at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by a margin of 337 runs, needing only four days to secure victory.

Sehwag had been dropped from the side in early-2007 and had been unproductive in recent Ranji Trophy matches in India; however, his extremely aggressive approach had been successful against Australia in the past and cricket pundits felt that he could counter-attack the Australian bowlers, rather than letting their new ball attack seize the initiative.

Australia fielded an unchanged XI, whereas India made one change: the injured Zaheer Khan was replaced by fellow paceman Ishant Sharma, a 19-year-old playing in his third Test match.

Michael Clarke fell in the over after, not offering a shot to a straight, full ball on leg stump and being adjudged LBW, leaving Australia at 5/121.

After one particularly long period without scoring a run, Dravid's next single was loudly greeted with ironic applause and he raised his bat to humorously acknowledge the crowd.

Tendulkar finished with 154 not out and raised some eyebrows for continually taking the single from the first ball of the over and handing the strike to Singh and Sharma, the latter of whom had previously only scored 17 runs at Test level.

Ganguly was the stand-out batsman scoring 51 until being adjudged caught at slips, with the replays inconclusive, and in accordance with a pre-series agreement between the two captains, the word of the fielder was relied upon.

After the match ended the stadium erupted in cheering as the Indians walked off the field, and the Australians celebrated their record-equalling win, praising Michael Clarke.

At some of the controversial ground, there was lot of talking points but yeah look we got through.In regards to the racism issue, Ponting denied he had done anything wrong by singularly reporting Harbhajan.

[38] Sachin Tendulkar, who was batting at the other end offered his inputs to the umpires, and in the ensuing hearing, and also writes in his autobiography, that he heard Symonds going after Harbhajan repeatedly in an aggressive verbal assault, even before the Brett Lee over, and after this particular incident.

Included in his final report were the words that "I believe one group is telling the truth", implying that Tendulkar and Harbhajan were lying in their testimonies, and that the Australian contingent were telling the truth[47] Australian spinner Brad Hogg was later charged with the same offense as Harbhajan for calling Indian captain Anil Kumble and vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni "bastards", a highly offensive term in India, after the BCCI lodged a complaint.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed announced that "a commissioner will be appointed by Wednesday to hear the appeal, which could take place before the third Test starts in Perth on 16 January.

[70] Symonds' inability to conclusively say whether Harbhajan Singh had used the word monkey or a Hindi abuse, and his admission that the language did not fall under the requirements of a level 3.3 offence played a crucial part.

This failure to identify any other words could be because some of what they were hearing was not in English.In response to Symonds' comment that "a Test match is no place to be friendly with an opposition player", Hansen said If that is his view I hope it is not one shared by all international cricketers.

It is incorrect to suggest that there was some sort of an agreement reached between Australian and Indian cricket authorities that I simply rubber-stamped, I also wish to add that while I was aware of the media furore surrounding this matter, no-one has attempted to apply direct pressure to obtain an outcome.He was also critical of all parties involved in the confrontation in Sydney, saying "their actions do not reflect well on them or the game".

The off spinner has denied having used the word which has caused offence and in the absence of any audio recording and most crucially with both umpires not having heard it, the charge should have been dropped straight away for lack of corroborating evidence.

[76] Later, in a Sydney Morning Herald article, Marsh pointed out that Australia was one of the four nominees to the ICC Spirit of Cricket awards, which occurred in September 2007.

[77] Steve Waugh writing for The Daily Telegraph in his article titled "Epic encounter's sour aftertaste" said: 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.

The English journalist and former captain of Somerset County Cricket Club, Peter Roebuck, a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, branded Ponting as "arrogant" and insisted that he be stripped of the captaincy.

As an ex-Australian player I was pretty disappointed.America's Cup-winning yachtsman John Bertrand, Olympic 1500 m gold medal-winning runner Herb Elliott and world champion marathon runner Robert de Castella, all members of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, accused the Australian cricket team of turning sport into war and thereby damaging international relations and placing the country in a negative light.

John Bertrand, the Hall of Fame chairman, went on to say that: We believe Australia's Test team moral compass needs to be retuned and we want Cricket Australia to know that ... We believe the No.1 rule is to show respect for your fellow competitors and currently this does not appear to be the case ... Their desire to win at all costs is beginning to blur their moral compass and it would appear that is what happening to the Australian Test team ...

In the same article it posted a 1981 video of Gavaskar ordering his partner Chetan Chauhan to leave the playing arena and stop the Test match after incorrectly being given out, in a bid to back up its argument.

[87] Former Pakistani captain fast bowler Wasim Akram lashed out against the "hypocritical" Australians for reporting Harbhajan, despite being known for their sledging[76] and despite a rumoured pre-series agreement not to refer to Symonds, Australia's only dark skinned player, using the word "monkey" as Indian cricket fans had done in their recent home series.

John Morrison, former New Zealand spin-bowler accused Australians of "running off to the teacher", while his former teammate Dipak Patel, of Indian descent, said that he had been called "a lot worse than a monkey".

Christopher Martin-Jenkins, chief cricket correspondent for The Times in the United Kingdom defended the "righteous indignation of India's players" and suggested that the BCCI's adamance to give the issue the necessary publicity has been better for the game.

Australia led the way in insults and now, claiming that an India player used a racist term, it is saying that rude behaviour on a cricket pitch is terrible, rotten, awful, mustn't be allowed.Oliver Brett of BBC Sport was sympathetic towards the Indians.

[94] The English journalist and former captain of Somerset County Cricket Club, Peter Roebuck, a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, branded Ponting as "arrogant" and insisted that he be stripped of the captaincy.

After the meeting of the captains prior to the third Test the teams appeared to be in better spirits, although some media outlets suggested the Australians had been trying to alter the way they play in response to the criticism and to fit in with the vague definition of the 'spirit of the game'.