The infamous ‘six’ of India-Australia rivalry

1981

India’s victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was marred by a walk out after Sunil Gavaskar was adjudged lbw. A comment by bowler Dennis Lillee infuuriated Gavaskar, who forced his opening partner Chetan Chauhan to return to pavilion with him.

1986

The 1986 tied Test in Madras was also not without controversy. Umpire V. Vikramraju’s decision to give Maninder Singh lbw off Greg Matthews irked the Indian team and a senior team member had reportedly gone to the umpire’s room to give him an earful.

2001

Then there was a ‘waiting game’ played by Sourav Ganguly when during the historic 2001 series, he repeatedly kept his Aussie counterpart Steve Waugh waiting for the toss during all three Test matches, something that did not go down well with the Australian team.

2007-2008

The infamous ‘Monkeygate’ scandal during 2007-08 series in Sydney involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds was probably the most controversial. Symonds had accused Harbhajan of calling him “monkey”but the Indian spinner was acquitted of charges.

2010

Not to forget Zaheer Khan taking a dig at the then Australian captain Ricky Ponting in Mohali in 2010 after running him out. Zaheer just called him ‘Usain Bolt’ before Ponting came back to have a word with the Indian fast bowler.

2017

Aussie skipper Steve Smith and his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli are currently involved in one big controversy with the Indian skipper stopping just short of calling the visiting team cheaters over DRS calls and alleged ‘dressing room help’.