Anil Kumble Reveals Why He Decided Not To Pull Out Of 2008 Australia Tour

Former Indian Test skipper Anil Kumble has revealed that pulling out of the Australian tour in 2007-08 would have been accepted by fans but his team continued the Test series to prove their mettle on foreign soil. The Sydney Test, which was the second match of the series, is still famous for poor umpiring calls and the Monkeygate scandal after which Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was banned for three matches by International Cricket Council (ICC) for allegedly racially abusing the then Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

"You know as a captain you are generally tuned to take decisions on the field. Here, I was faced with something, which was off the field, to take a decision in the larger interest of the game. And one of our players [Harbhajan Singh] was obviously banned for three matches because of a racist remark - that what the pronouncement was and we appealed," Kumble told Ravichandran Ashwin in his Youtube show 'DRS with Ash'.

The former leg-spinner, who has taken most wickets in Test for India felt that Harbhajan was "wronged".