The U-turn is complete

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And so, after the threat of a three-match ban for Harbhajan Singh and the Indian team pulling out of the one-day series, the circus moves on to Melbourne with the charges of racist abuse dropped and Mike Proctor's credibility torn to shreds. It also reopens an old can of worms about the pressure that individual boards exert when one of their own is fined or banned under the ICC Code of Conduct.

It happened at The Oval with Pakistan and Darrell Hair, and before that with India and Mike Denness at Port Elizabeth in 2001. The BCCI were within their rights to complain about the abysmal standard of umpiring in Sydney, but the resultant threats to pull out were puerile and unedifying, and only reinforced the neutral's view of the Indian board being cricket's answer to Chelsea Football Club, nouveau riche and lacking class.

The heart of the matter in the Harbhajan case though was the lack of evidence. 'He said, she said' might work on the school playground, but doesn't stand up to scrutiny in a court of law. Andrew Symonds and the Australians say that Harbhajan used the M word, while the Indians insist that he didn't. With even the stump microphones not able to capture the exchange clearly, there was no way Harbhajan could be found guilty.

After the initial inquiry in Sydney, the Indians complained bitterly that Proctor listened only to the Australians and not to them. John Hansen's findings seem to agree with them, and it'll be interesting to see how Proctor continues after this slap on the wrist. His conduct at The Oval came in for criticism, and this won't have done his reputation any good. 

Hopefully though, the fracas will force the BCCI to look at its attitude to racism. When the monkey chants against Symonds first happened in India last October, the initial reaction was denial, and an improbable story involving Hanuman, the monkey God, that made Grimm's Fairy Tales look like a reality show. West Indian cricketers who played at Mumbai in 2002 told me that the racist abuse was the worst that they've ever experienced. A fast bowler who no longer plays international cricket mentioned a boy in his early teens who called him a "black b******" the entire time that he fielded on the boundary.

Such fans have no place inside a stadium or in any civilised society. The BCCI loves to boast about its power and influence. Maybe they could use some of it to drive the vermin from the game and implement a zero-tolerance policy, both on and off the field. The sport would be better for it.

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Comments

[Realitybites]

Yet another sign of the demise of the game of cricket. The 20/20 game is like trialling the radical new drug on a cancer victim with little prospect of survival. Its no wonder that the BCCI runs the game, rather than the ICC. The rest of the member countries would amount to about 15% of the Indian population. Upset them, and the money dries up. If you were an investor, its like putting all your money on one stock....risky, desperate, and possibly foolish business.
RIP

[John Jorrocks]

"...an improbable story involving Hanuman, the monkey God, that made Grimm's Fairy Tales look like a reality show..."
Forgive the pedantry: there is no such thing as "Grimm's Fairy Tales." The brothers Grimm (hence "Grimms'") collected folk tales. They were philologists. So: Grimms' Tales, if anything. And the tales they collected were rather more "real" than "reality shows."
And this is far more important than cricket, of course.

[Noelene]

Proctor did nothing wrong.There was only partial recordings of that hearing(how convenient)The two cricket boards came to an agreement.The Aussie players agreed to a downgrade of the charge,and Harby was to plead guilty.
The Aussie changed their evidence(different to what they said in the Proctor hearing,which is why there is only partial transcripts)
Harby was happy to plead guilty to the lesser charge,even though the judge would have cleared him because of the provocation defence the judge seems so keen on(he is on record as saying he would not have found Harby guilty even if it was proved that Harby did say monkey).There could only be one reason why the BCCI and Harby agreed to the deal,the same reason as to why Harby didn't deny calling Symonds a monkey when challenged by Hayden on the transcript.His response was he started it.What judge admits he did not have all the evidence before fining Harby?(no record of his previous offences which was conveniently lost by the ICC)I hope he does better than that in his real job.

[PP, York]

Andy C -you need to think before you start typing as it seems you are incapable of doing both, well we all know the standard of schools in Luton. Hayden and Symonds are both in the transcript saying they heard Harbhajan saying Monkey, however there is no evidence of him saying it on the same transcript, i would think that is regarded as lying.

[vish]

The whole 'shift', if you may,is necesiitated by behaviours of officials appointed by the ICC.

Just one example- (Please some one come up with an explanation) Four years back Rashid Latiff of Pakistan was baaned for 4/5 games for claiming a bumped catch, by MIke Procter, the match referee then.

The same Mike Procter as match referee did not feel it necessary to take any action on Ricky Ponting for claiming a 'grassed' catch in Sydney.

Case rested.

[Matt]

Those who didnt like the verdict must learn to deal with it, players and fans alike. Times have chnaged

[Darren]

Once again the dollar speak loudly. Were the Indians threatening? Well it seems to me if you threaten to pull your team out if you don't get your own way that's threatening! For me, I wouldn't have back down - let them walk, they are (with a couple of exceptions) dull boring cricketers with make their "name" on doctored tracks. By the way good luck Gary Kirsten - who would want the job to tackle the BCCI and tell them that their favored sons aren't fit or up to the standard!

[sam]

Indians won on one match and made a draw on the other after the incident. That shows Australians are not really the top cricketers. On fair grounds and without demoralising, verbally abusing others they cannot win.It also shows how they could conceal their weak points.

Worse of all the Australian players are behaving as though they are the one who makes rules for the whole cricket world. They decide that sledging is okay. They decide which words should be said.

During the hearing the Australian players some how could not recall any of the other words spoken by either Harbhajan or Symonds-A collective amnesia.But they want Bhaji to be punished.

John Hansen was also biased here because he didn't take any action on Symonds even though he was the one who started it and admitted using the F-word.

[Andy C, Luton]

PP - you've rather answered your own question haven't you. The answer is that no-one knows FOR CERTAIN who is telling the truth because the evidence is inconclusive (you might like to look that word up).

You have stated AS A FACT that one team is lying, which to me suggests that you are claiming to KNOW that to be the case. Perhaps next time you should choose your words a lot more carefully, otherwise you might end up defending a defamation suit one day.

[Tim]

Dileep, it's refreshing to finally read comments written by an Indian commentator and fan of the game, who doesn't appear to be writing with the old horse blinkers on. To your fellow countrymen writing on this post, wake up to yourselves and your ostrich head in the sand views of racism.

[Rahul]

The Harbhajan-Symonds episode is just the tip of the iceberg. With some real hotheads in the One Day team, Sreesanth & Uthappa to name a couple, the Australians are going to have their hands full checking whos's saying what. I can't wait for the excitement to start.

[Bill]

Dileep, you articles over the last summer have been refreshing and a great read. Having been overseas in a non-cricketing nation at the time of the Sydney test I found it very difficult to get a balanced view on the incident until I read one of your articles.

Again the above article focusses on the actual facts of the matter rather than heresay and circumstance as I've found the majority of Australian and Indian media and supporters to be guilty of.

One question I would like to ask you though is why the video and audio released from the Sydney test only shows Australian's firing back at Harbajan after the alleged incident? If what Singh said was infact inaudible then surely it would be sensible for the ICC (and the BCCI for that matter) to release the complete footage as this would remove any doubt in minds of the general Australian public, mine included (and all cricket lovers, youself included I would imagine).

Where do you stand on this?

[Joey]

i think it's time for the cricketing world to boycott India. They wont be able to earn much money if they can't play the best team in the world.
It's still amazing that some poeple choose to blame this whole incident on Australia's sledging. I think Australia might as well go after the Indians verbally in the ODI series and let them squirm. I don't think they'll be able to handle it.
The day the cricketing world realises it doesn't need India is approaching.

[manu]

a few counter points..since its out there
1,pakistan would be on the bcci's side ,they know how big a money spinner the india-pakistan matches actually are.dont forget zimbabwe would be with the bcci too and kenya and i think south africa would be with the bcci..
2 I agree the bcci's posturing is completely unethical regarding making the threat to go home.But cricket australia must defintley foster the blame for not supporting thier man and supposedly cowing down to indian demands...of course this is all media speculation.
3 the bcci didnt get rich overnite.teams like aust are just cashing on to the bandwagon..i dont remember if ever ,the aussies coming to india or india playing them almost every year.familiarity can only breed contempt i suppose.
4 almost all the big names of aust cricket have signed up for ipl ,including symmonds ..that too after the last india tour.
5 hearing the stump mike conversation its looks to me from an indian perspective ...by proclaiming harbjan had said monkey and claiming they had evidence now...it looked like they were more interested in baiting harbjan than actually offended by the word.

[a don]

I AM SO OVER THIS

[raykkool]

I have been regularly following Dileep Premachandran's jottings on Cricinfo and in the Times and I am really amused at how Janus faced he is getting to be.

On the white landscape of the Times, he is the introspective Indian,gauging India through steely western eyes, leaking a weakness here, warning of a stench there, very Naipualian,"purveyor of stereotypes and full of disgust for the world that produced him".

On CRICINFO INDIA, he is one of the boys,an adrent admirer, a measured critic and full of knowledge about the Indian game.

I almost think there are some sad fissures in the DP tree somewhere which continue to bleed and occassionally overflow like this piece or that terrible terrible piece he once wrote about hating the English Cricket which will surely shock the readers of the TIMES if reproduced here.
?
Cmmon DP you are a better man than this..you can lie to Indians and to the English but how long can you keep lying to yourself....

[Peter b]

As I understand it betting on cricket in India is huge.

It wouldn't surprise me if millions of Indian fans had placed billions of rupees on India getting a draw on the last day.

If I am correct then the win by Australia has saved Indian bookies a motza.

This then begs the question who would have benefitted from any bookmakers gratitude.

[John]

I don’t know why people cannot digest the fact that Harbhajan did not utter the word “monkey”. He had used a Hindi slang (maa ki)which was mis-heard to sound like monkey. As rightly pointed out by some, it is nowhere near as obscene as the use of “b******” by Brad Hogg. Aussie players are clever enough to shout into the microphone whatever they feel; that’s not evidence. They have been shouting unnecessarily on the field for decades anyway; deliberately distracting the batsmen and then getting them out – and self glorifying by saying that “we play tough”!

As far as whether a catch is clean or not- we have the Peitersens being called back after the umpire (Simon Taufel, bless him) gave him out, when he had almost reached the pavillion! So why can't you call back or reverse the decisions for a non-white player?

The comments made by peter B are completely ludicrous. He hould be Peter C.

[Bhat]

The Aussies are notorious for 'sledging' and aggressive/intimidating behaviour .It is high time someone gave it back to them . The stump mikes may not picked up exactly what Harbhajan said , but it was clear he was being further provoked in to action by two of the 'Aussies' . Kumble had the decency and magnanimity to drop charges against Aussie offender but Ricky Ponting as a captain show up his lack of integrity in trying to take Harbhajan to task plus covering up all the flawed decisions taken the controversial umpire. Never before in the history of cricket have the Indian side been known for ungentlemanly behaviour. But there are limits to tolerance.The Aussie side continues to be universally unpopular along with the captain.

[dm]

I wish India did go home who wants to watch a team led by bully boys?

[ARC]

Let me see, when Proctor ruled against Harbhajan it was a great verdict, doing cricket proud. Then, when a trained judge goes through the judgment and finds that there was not sufficient evidence to charge Harbhajan, then he's the one who compromised with his professiona ethics under pressure from the ugly BCCI!
Maybe Proctor should become a judge, in Australia offcourse.
One more point, for the joker who lamented that Sharad Pawar can't speak "proper" English, how many Australian politicians or cricket adminstrators can speak Hindi? Why the hell should Pawar be able to speak English - does it happen to be the God's only language. Do any of you guys ask why the Chinese or the Japanese on whom the Australian economy is beholden to can't speake English? Oh but wait! THERE ARE MORE ENGLISH SPEAKERS IN INDIA THAN IN AUSTRALIA - so what a certain Sharad Pawar can't speak the Queen's language.
I guess people need to wake up smell the coffee.

[macadamia_man]

Hmmmm.

What a tangled mess of people trying to make "facts" (as reported) fit their own preconceptions, prejudices or tribal (look it up before you react) loyalties.

Harb, the Indian Test team and the Indian Board had been warned after Mumbai that "Monkey" a(nd any other explicitly racist "slurs") were no longer going to be excused or accepted. So it wasn't.

Neither sex (as in how sexist not to) nor sexuality are mentioned in the code as I recall it. Revealing?

The umpiring was indeed poor - which does two things - encourages the Aussies to test the umps on duty (seen as traditional since at least the Seventies - cf WI, Aussies and England), and increases the tension with which everyone plays (and makes 'walking' a lot less straightforward . . .)

Ponting and the Australian team were also warned that their behaviour, tactics and language were under scrutiny. Yet again. And they seemed to "calm down" a tad - that's what the Test code of conduct was re-written to achieve.

"Sledging" has a long and ignominious (but successful) history in many mainstream sports - particularly those where vast amounts of money are at stake. Anybody rememeber Zidane at the last World Cup?

How can it be at all reasonable to air your own racist and cultural cliche ridden thinking in this forum particularly? Get a grip . . .

Millions of people in Australia use the term "b*******" in a wide variety of ways - mostly positive or familiar - every day. It would be good if they could be educated not to use it around those who may be sensitive to an unintended offence, but for crying out loud is a specific proscribed word uttered by an excitable individual with previous (allegedly) the same as calling a man born in the West Indies and regularly racially abused something quite so obviously and specifically offensive? Unless a specific Indian cricketer is equally sensitive to this particular accusation?

And how does being accused of being born out of wedlock compare to being called non-human? More grip required . . .

Seems to me d******* A called d******* A B a d******* A(effectively) in order to get d******* A B (you still with me?) to break a specific injunction laid down in the tour conditions. And then everybody got it way wrong when it blew up as could be (and was) expected.

If stump cams / mikes and ultra slow motion 24/7 gloabl televison and press coverage had been around a decade ago I suspect we would have resolved this ugly issue a while back.

I blame the media . . . Simplistic, I know, but not always wrong! Thank the XXXX (choose a deity of your preference but please, not Hanuman this time) the team who played the marginally better CRICKET won the series. . .

[Rohit]

As far as racism is concerned no one is holier than thou. However, lying about the catch and the nicks is just too much. One can't complain about racism if one doesn't uphold the basic values of humanity. well, perhaps thats too much to expect in the days of white collor crimes. Seymonds and Bhajji are stock cricketers that I don't give a damn about. However, one expects some tact from Ponting. He just mismanaged this whole issue. He did what Ron Howard did without thinking too much about the consequences i.e. going to war. Pretty dumb stuff, eh? As far as governing bodies are concerned.. they are counting money 'cause that's their job. What will they govern if there aren't matches and theres no money? The show goes on. Similarly, I won't stop playing cricket just because some jacka*s called another a****le a monkey. My entertainment is too valuable to me to care about dignity and accusations of overpaid big boys. Their theatrics on field is part of my entertainment package. Their foul cries off the field are just a display of immaturity. I will continue to play and watch the game no matter who said what and how much money exchanged hands.

[Peter b]

One of the things to come out of Sydney is the possibility of a split in world cricket.

Dileep, I would appreciate your opinion on the following scenario

Lets assume there is a breakaway led by the BCCI

Firstly, any group dealing with the BCCI would have doubts about the BCCI honouring contracts, following agreed procedures and getting a fair go

In the ICC group you would assume Aust, England & NZ would be a given.

The West Indies could stay with the ICC My reasons
a) They are angry over Bucknor's treatment
b)They have had unhappy experiences in India as you alluded to.
c) There are deeper cultural /historical ties with English & Australian cricket

Pakistan could well stay with the ICC. I think the political reality of Pakistan cricket going to an Indian run & dominated competition may cause this.

Could Pakistan resist the chance to embarass India?

South Africa could go either way but again the historical & cultural ties plus the concerns about the BCCI behaviour and the treatment of Pollock may lead them to stay with the ICC.

If the West Indies & Pakistan stay then they would be a certainty.

The major cricket nations may view this as an opportunity to bring the BCCI to heel.

Sri Lanka & Bangladesh would then be the only BCCI teams.

Does the BCCI really think that these games would be an enduring & marketable product?

The other thought is that Indian cricket itself would split. It would not be hard to establish a rival in India. The frame work is already there with the 20/20 league which I hasten to note relies on oversears players for its marketability.

I don't think the BCCI wants to create a Packer "WSC" yet this could be result of their actions

[Clive]

A minor fact that escapes all of the hysterical anti-aussie jibes out there is that after the Indian crowds Monkey Taunts in Oct, Proctor instructed BOTH captains and umpires before the series started that any racist taunts must be the subject of an official report.

Also it should be noted the Indian captains thanks to the Australian team for compromise allowing the one day series to go on. Kind of suggests a deal rather than any sort of exonneration doesn't it!