Ponting insulted by 'cheating' claims

Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, is insulted by claims from Virender Sehwag that Australia cheated during their acrimonious SCG victory in January. Sehwag said there was no point in having a catching pact for the four-Test series, which starts in Bangalore on Thursday, because it wasn't applied properly on the previous occasion.

"That's fairly insulting," Ponting said. "In the first innings [at the SCG] I didn't claim a catch because I wasn't 100% sure.

"It's amazing how they've picked out a lot of negatives from that game and don't seem to be speaking about the Perth Test [the third match of that series, which Australia lost], where we probably had the same things happen to us. Not one member of the Australian team has spoken about it. We go about our cricket in different ways."

Kumble, however, downplayed the issue. "I'm not really aware of what he [Sehwag] said. That's all in the past. Let us not dwell on the past."

Sehwag said the Australians appealed for one-bounce dismissals at the SCG. "We'd have won the Sydney Test match if they hadn't claimed catches taken off half-volleys in that game," Sehwag told ESPN-STAR.

India lost by 122 runs after Michael Clarke, who picked up a contentious take off Sourav Ganguly on the final day, collected three wickets in the final over. Shortly after, Anil Kumble said only one team played the match in the spirit of the game. The fixture was also controversial for a series of umpiring mistakes, excessive appealing, batsmen not walking to thick edges and the race row between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds.

Kumble said on Wednesday the Sydney affair would not affect either team in this series. "Let's not sit and dwell on what has happened in the past," he said. "I'm sure this series will be played in the right way."

Ponting said the fact India were still talking about the defeat was a good sign for Australia. "I'm not sure what they are trying to achieve," he said. "It was a Test we won, a crucial Test for the overall series. As I said at the time, it was one of the best moments I've had on a cricket field. To win the way we did was an outstanding effort by the team."