Five most scandalous moments in cricketing history

#4 Monkey Gate

Harbhajan Singh was accused of racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds

Fox Sports called the 2007-2008 India tour of Australia one of the "most spiteful series in cricket history". There were some very heated moments throughout that tour and it was close to being called off at times. One particular moment stands out though, when Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh reportedly called Australian Andrew Symonds a monkey.

Harbhajan received a three-match ban for this, but it was challenged and appealed by the whole Indian team who claimed he had said nothing of the sort. However, it was Sachin Tendulkar who saved the day, saying that Harbhajan had actually said "maa ki" which is part of a rude Hindi phrase and just happens to sound like monkey.

It is apparent that Tendulkar repeatedly changed his story to support Harbhajan and received heavy criticism from Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for the same. Even Adam Gilchrist described Bhaji's successful appeal as a ''joke''. This led to the series being one of the most hostile in the history of the game.