More than a decade since the "Monkeygate" incident during the controversial 2008 Sydney Test, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting recalled it as the lowest point of his immensely successful captaincy stint. 

Harbhajan Singh, the Indian off-spinner, was charged for racially abusing Aussie middle-order batsman Andrew Symonds while involved in a heated conversation during the ill-fated hours of that Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

Read Also: Andrew Symonds opens up again on the infamous Monkey Gate incident

"Monkeygate was probably the lowest (point in career as captain). Losing the 2005 Ashes series was tough but I was in full control of that. But I wasn't in full control of what happened during the Monkeygate thing," Ponting could be heard saying in a SkySports podcast. 

After an official hearing, Harbhajan was suspended for the Test that followed in Perth. But soon as the turbanator got cleared of the charge, Symond's career went into an unarrested decline. 

"It was a low point and also because it dragged on for so long," Ponting added. "I remember coming off the ground during the Adelaide Test match and speaking to Cricket Australia officials about the case because the hearing was at the end of the Adelaide Test match."

Amid the Aussie camp, however, there was a feeling that Symonds had been dealt unfairly. "We all felt let down by the end result (of the the Monkeygate controversy)," Ponting said. "The fact that it got in the way of the way we played our cricket for the next Test match was probably the most disappointing thing."

"So we go over there and India at Perth is game we expect to win and then we lost the match and after that the next few days things just got worse and worse."

The Indian team threatened to pull out of the entire tour after the SCG Test where controversial umpiring decisions from Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson cost the visitors a rare overseas victory.

Thankfully, the ICC intervened and series went ahead, with Australia eventually retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy following a 2-1 series scoreline. 

(Inputs from SkySports)