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Debasis Sen: The controversial Port Elizabeth test match against South Africa in 2001 is still remembered by the Indian fans as Sachin Tendulkar was allegedly charged for ball tampering by match referee Mike Denness. The actions of Denness in handing punishments to six Indian players were unprecedented. For former wicketkeeper batsman Deep Dasgupta, who was also handed one match suspension for excessive appealing, it was a bitter sweet test match. Bitter in the sense as Mike Denness was unfair in handing out the charges and sweet because Deep played a valiant knock of 63 runs in the second innings to save the test match on the fifth and final day. Excessive appealing: The batsman did had an inside edge and it was caught by Shib Sundar Das at forward short leg. We all appealed together – Viru (Sehwag), Das (Shib Sundar), Bhajji (Harbhajan), Rahul (Dravid) . Even Sourav who was fielding at mid-off also appealed along with Sachin at mid-on. The appeal went on for a little longer as we all believed it was a clear bat pad. The emotions were high as we wanted to bounce back in the series after losing the first test in four days. We felt we had an opportunity in the match. So it was a sudden burst of emotions. Hearing: As we came back into the dressing room after the day’s play our manager Dr Bhargav told us that few of the players have been summoned by the match referee Mike Denness. We were all wondering about the reason why he called six of us. He (Dr Bhargav) told us that Sachin, Sehwag,Harbhajan, Shib, myself and Sourav were summoned for excessive appealing. It was decided that Sourav will speak on behalf of everyone. During the hearing Mike Denness asked if anyone of us used any slang words on the field. We promptly replied that there was no such instance. Sachin summoned for second time: Sachin was called again as we were all busy packing our bags to get ready to leave for the team hotel. Sachin and Sourav re-entered the dressing room with gloomy faces. We still had no idea what was going around. We came to know about the decision a little later. We were all surprised to receive a one match ban. We still honestly believe it was unfair on Denness. It was difficult to digest. Unfair: Sachin was labeled with a charge of ball tampering which was weird. It wasn’t ball tampering or anything. I still remember the wicket was a green top and so the grass clanged on to the seam. All he (Sachin) was doing was removing the mud from the seam which was legal. It all happened in front of the on field umpires and they had no issues with it. It was a bit unfair as Denness did not hear our views. It was definitely a very harsh decision compared to the stature of the offence. Most importantly we were made to believe we were guilty. We all got very hurt with the decision. Good thing: The only good thing that happened was the seniors in the team like Sachin, Sourav, Anil (Kumble) and Rahul (Dravid) ensuring that the incident did not affect juniors like me, Viru, Harbhajan, Shib as we had to bat the entire fifth day to save the test match. Few of us did try to know what actually the situation was but they insisted not to worry as they are handling it. We heard that the team management was in talks with BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya. Next day we batted all the three sessions and saved the test match. I have sweet memories for sharing a partnership of 171 runs with Dravid for the second wicket.