I thought Steve Smith actually had "brain fade", says Sourav Ganguly after Sandpaper Gate

03/27/2018

Sourav Ganguly has called the sandpaper gate a stupid move by the Australian players and also joked that Steve Smith actually had a brain fade during the last year's India tour. Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh has gone a step further and demanded harsher punishment for both Smith and Cameron Bancroft.

Steve Smith & Co. are facing a lot of criticism from all around the cricketing world for their role in the whole sandpaper-gate fiasco during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. After the disgraceful step, the Australian skipper and Cameron Bancroft came for the press conference and accepted their role in the entire debacle. The International Cricket Council has also banned Smith for one Test for his role in a plan in which Bancroft was caught on camera while tampering the ball with the tape. While the latter escaped the ban, he was fined 75 percent of his match fees and awarded three demerit points. Ganguly slammed the Aussies for their win at all cost attitude and said that their move presented an instance 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 told India Today.

“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.”

Ganguly recalled the DRS-gate from last year's Bengaluru Test against India when Smith was caught while he was looking towards his dressing room for advice on whether to go for a DRS review which was not permissible under the rules and later he said that it was a brain fade moment for him.

“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.”

In 2008, monkey-gate grabbed every bit of column inch in the papers after Andrew Symonds had accused Harbhajan Singh of racially abusing him. The Indian off-spinner was given three-match ban for the same and now Harbhajan has demanded harsher punishment for Smith and Bancroft from the ICC.

“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,” Harbhajan 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.”