Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has slammed Australian cricket team’s “win at all costs” attitude and said that the ball-tampering ploy of Steve Smith and his teammates in the 3rd Test against South Africa was an act of sheer stupidity.
“Steve 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 while speaking to ‘India Today’ news channel.
Smith has been banned for one Test by the International Cricket Council for his role in a plot that saw Cameron Bancroft tampering the ball by using yellow sticky tape during the second innings of South Africa in Newlands.
Bancroft was fined with 75 percent of his match fees 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 Ganguly
“This idea of a 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”.
“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 added.
India veteran Harbhajan Singh, who was also present in the discussion along with Ganguly, said Smith and Bancroft should have been given harsher punishments by 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 percent 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,” Bhajji added.
