“When the hearing was going on, Symonds admitted that he was the one who provoked Harbhajan buy saying ‘F**k off’. But they also kept insisting that Harbhajan called Symonds a ‘monkey’. When we denied that the Australians related instances from the past about how Symonds was subjected to racist taunts on the India tour last year,” the sources added.

“They had no evidence at all with them, just a story, that’s why when we came to know of the possible punishment from Proctor inside the hearing, we were shattered,” they said.

Apparently, the controversy was sparked off when Harbhajan patted pacer Brett Lee’s bottom while crossing ends, which drew a response from Symonds at mid-off. This led to the chat between both, and the subsequent crisis.

Interestingly, Lee wasn’t one of the witnesses brought forward by the Australian team, and the Indian camp believes it’s to protect his commercial interests in India.