The former stumper said he stood by his comments on Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh being hard to find for a handshake after a match, but this did not imply that he considered them a bad sport.

He clarified that his comments were only aimed at highlighting the cultural differences between the two sides. "I made the comment that Sachin and Harbhajan were sometimes not around to shake hands. Whether that is right or wrong is not my point. It was more the cultural differences I was trying to highlight, which it's fair to say, have been integral in most disputes or flare-ups between these two proud nations."

"Nowhere do I accuse Sachin of being bad sport," he said. He is drawing flak for reopening the 'monkey-gate' saga which has been set aside as a closed chapter by both the teams but Gilchrist insisted that he merely "stated the facts" and never called Tendulkar a liar as has been reported.

"...I obviously had to address it in the book as it was a huge issue last summer and too big to ignore. That said, my only reference to it was recall the way the events unfolded from the initial hearing, the night the match finished, through to the final judicial hearing a few weeks later," wrote Gilchrist.

"All I stated are the facts that everyone knows, that initially Sachin had mentioned he wasn't sure what Harbhajan had said, then later confirmed his support when Harbhajan said he'd used a Hindi word in the heated exchange with Symonds. Nowhere do I accuse Sachin of lying," said Gilchrist.

... contd.