New Delhi: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly today slammed Australian cricket
team's "win at all cost" attitude and said that the ball tampering plot
hatched by Steven Smith and his players in the Test against South Africa
was an act of sheer stupidity.
"Steven Smith need not have to
do it (ball tampering). I think what Smith did or David Warner did or
Bancroft did was absolute stupidity," Ganguly said at a panel discussion
on 'India Today' channel.
Smith has been banned for one Test by
the International Cricket Council for his role in a plot that saw
team-mate Cameron Bancroft tamper with the ball by using yellow sticky
tape during the third Test against South Africa in Newlands.
Bancroft escaped with a fine of 75 per cent match fee and three demerit points.
"Actually, I think he (Smith) had a brain fade. I thought it was for
the sake of just saying when he last said in India that he had a brain
fade. But after this incident I thought he actually had a brain fade,"
said the former India skipper who had many run-ins with he Australians
in his career.
Smith had sought dressing room advice on whether
to go for review under DRS during the Bangalore Test last year against
India, which was not permissible under the rules and he later said that
he had a brain fade moment.
"This idea of win at all cost (of
the Australians) is not right. There was this underarm delivery in a
Test against New Zealand in 1981. That is the way Australia have been
playing cricket," Ganguly said.
"In the contest in 2008, there
was only one side playing with the spirit of the game. I was batting at
60-odd and Ricky Ponting got me out one bounce. After I got out, the
Test match was different," Ganguly said.
Former India spinner
Harbhajan Singh, who also took part in the discussion, said Smith and
Bancroft should have been given harsher punishments by the International
Cricket Council.
"Without any proper investigation and without
any proof (in the Monkeygate scandal in 2008), I was handed three-match
ban and here you see the player (Bancroft) who was actually involved in
ball tampering was let off with a fine of 75 per cent of match fee," he
said.
"Both Smith and Bancroft should have been given harsher
punishments. I will not say ban of 6 months or life ban but maybe 2 or 3
matches.
PTI
