India's cricket series in Australia now hangs by a thread after the BCCI decided today to call off the tour if the ICC fails to meet two key demands — revoke the three-Test ban against off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and remove umpires Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson from the series.

The Indian cricket board took this strong line at a meeting this morning of top officials at BCCI president Sharad Pawar’s residence here after which the Union Minister sent a letter to ICC president Ray Mali, spelling out the two demands.

“Finally, it was decided if both these demands were not met, the tour will be called off. The BCCI stand is very clear. There was no racial comment by Harbhajan Singh,” said BCCI sources.

The top-level meeting, said BCCI sources, was a heated affair with officials pointing to the various instances of on-field misbehaviour by the Australians, including the “shoving aside of president Sharad Pawar by the Australian team” during the presentation ceremony following the Champions Trophy in India last year.

According to BCCI sources, Pawar, in his letter to Mali, stressed that “cricket is known as a gentleman’s game” and “known for fairplay”. Pawar also wanted the ban against Harbhajan to be revoked and, for now, be stayed till the appeals hearing next week.

Listing in detail the number of wrong dismissals that went against the Indians during the second Test of the high-profile four-match series, Pawar sought the removal of the two umpires for their appalling decisions in the Sydney Test that India lost by 122 runs. As per the official ICC roster, Bucknor is slated to continue for the next Test starting on January 16 at Perth while Benson is to be replaced by Pakistan’s Asad Rauf.

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