Kumble, Ponting come close to face-off

Bangalore: Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting came close to a standoff on the opening day of the first Test when the Australian captain survived a close caught-and-bowled appeal from the Indian captain.

Ponting was batting on 110 and Australia 201-2 when he drove a full-pitched delivery from Kumble straight back to the bowler. The leg-spinner appealed but umpire Rudi Koertzen was unmoved as he apparently thought it was a bump ball.

After a short delay, Koertzen checked with square-leg umpire Asad Rauf, who agreed with the original decision to the dismay of the Indians. Kumble had a brief chat with Koertzen who apparently gave the Indian captain his reasoning.

Television replays were also not clear though the Indians thought Ponting was out. Since there was also no umpire review system, Ponting continued batting.

Ponting later said he was convinced it was a bump ball.

"At the time, I was positive I hit the ball on full. I was expecting it to dribble back to Anil, but I looked up and he was taking the ball in front of his face," Ponting said.

"I couldn't work out what had happened with it. I haven't seen a replay, but at the time I was pretty sure I'd hit it into the ground," he added.

The incident did not boil over and the players of the both sides just carried on with the play.

Both captains have said they expect the current series to be played in right spirit. Ponting had, however, fired back on Virender Sehwag's accusations that the Australians cheated in their 2-1 series victory Down Under early this year, saying the Indian opener's outburst was "insulting".

Match referee Chris Broad has told both teams to avoid making any inappropriate comments or face code-of-conduct charges.

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