But Team India says will play only if ban on Harbhajan is lifted

Anil Kumble’s team continued to stay put in Sydney today, with many players confiding that they are still seething at the way match referee Mike Procter banned Harbhajan for an alleged racist slur without giving the Indians a “fair hearing”.

A team source also revealed that Andrew Symonds, who had accused Harbhajan of calling him a monkey, admitted at the hearing that he had provoked the off-spinner first.

According to team sources, the Indian delegation at the hearing offered an opportunity to Procter and the Australian delegation to settle things behind closed doors and not blow up the issue. “Proctor completely ignored that, and Ricky Ponting (Australia captain) kept silent,” said the sources. Apparently, the senior players have gone through Procter’s verdict in detail. “The first few paragraphs are just the minutes of the meeting. Then it lists the words that have been used as evidence and adds that he is convinced that they were said with intention of making a racist remark,” said the sources.

“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.