Apparently irked at Harbhajan Singh being repeatedly targeted by the Aussie media and the crowds, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah has said that the Indian crowd might pay the Australian team in the same coin when the latter tours India later this year.
Brisbane, Mar 4 : Apparently irked at Harbhajan Singh being repeatedly targeted by the Aussie media and the crowds, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah has said that the Indian crowd might pay the Australian team in the same coin when the latter tours India later this year.
"Let Australia come to us and see what the crowd might do. It's not a good thing, people must forget. All these reports are unnecessary. When your team comes here, if it is too much media attention, maybe there will be the same crowd behaviour in India," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Shah as saying.
Shah also said that BCCI officials would meet Harbhajan when he returned from the tumultuous tour this week and urge him not to react to provocation from spectators or rival players.
During the first Final of the ongoing tri-series between the two seams, spectators said they had seen the Indian spinner make monkey gestures while fielding. One spectator lodged an official complaint with Cricket Australia. The complaint led to media reports slamming Bhajji of his on-field behaviour.
Earlier, on two occasions Harbhajan had been linked in controversies with Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden. Following the controversy with Symonds, Bhajji was banned for two Tests.
The pictures taken by the Herald of Harbhajan apparently doing a monkey taunt with one arm were not conclusive, in the ICC's view, and match referee Jeff Crowe said last night that no action would be taken. "After reviewing all available information, I conclude that there is no need to take any action against Harbhajan Singh," Crowe said.
Yesterday, as the Indian team alighted at Brisbane, Harbhajan was shielded from the waiting media, and moved through a wall of teammates as he left the Airport and quickly boarded a waiting bus. A team official told the waiting Aussie media to "leave him alone".
ANI