Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan

When I first heard of Harbhajan Singh being banned for three tests following his alleged racial remarks at Symonds in the last test match between India and Australia. The first thoughts that came to my mind were a feeling of déjà vu ala Oval gate. As was the case back then, proven later on in court much to the chagrin of the holy supporters of cricket in England. A sub continental team was hung at the gate without any proper evidence.

The team this time around is India, who although having an emotionally charged series with the Aussies when they toured India, do still come across as a much more demure team than the Aussies. Or perhaps that is the case to me since I am from the sub continent and thus understand what we consider insulting while Australia does not. Harbajhan Singh is reported to have called Symonds a monkey on field, which he and his team mates vehemently denied. Thus the case before the match referee was specifically Symond’s and his Aussie team mates saying Bhaji did it while Tendulkar and the other Indian players saying he did not.

What then made the ICC Match referee decide in the favor of the Australians? Without any proper footage or audio evidence to have suggested that Bhaji actually made those remarks. While nothing was done by this body when the Aussies “pushed off” an Indian official from stage after winning their last tour? This is the point which has now been taken up by the BCCI and the Indian team management and the current tour lies suspended. Ponting and his men on the other hand are acting like their normal holier than thou selves and claiming they have done nothing wrong and that it is not a big deal. The whole point is the Referee believing the Aussies over the Indians is much more of an “insult felt” to the Indians then the actual disciplinary action.

As far as sledging and on field antics are concerned, although Team Australia has gotten less disciplinary actions against them on the record, they are second to none in this facet of the game. They are known to use sledging and any psychological tactics necessary to dismantle an opposition’s concentration and take a winning edge on the field. So was this basically another aggression on the Indian Physic which went wrong? Or did Bhaji actually say something to the effect?

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