Ponting tells of request to drop Harbhajan complaint

[Donny]

Thank you. At last, you grasp my true value.

[bharat297]

Yes ... you are brilliant. It takes a special kind of person to be able to make a statement, claim that they were misquoted, then claim that everyone missed their point ... and then when asked what their point was say that they dont feel like answering and prefer to leave. Its amazing !!!

[anbuchelvan]

I thought Ponting is a moaning cheater.Now I understand he is an egoistic fool.

[Lurker]

Im pretty sure that senior member was Tendulkar himself ... He seemed to be the main guy sticking up for Harbhajan.But seriously ... the Aussies just cant let this go can they. This all spawned out of nothing. Literally nothing. There was no proof. I just wonder ... had the Lankans claim against Glenn McGrath (calling Sanath a black monkey) been made public at the time, would we have had such a media hoopla? I think the Indians should respond by making up a claim of racial abuse against the Aussies. All they need are 4 players who are willing to accuse someone else (despite no proof) and thats it. Dont worry about lack of stump mic evidence (because that doesnt matter) or the fact that neither of the 2 umpires in the vicinity heard anything. India should do that and then have a lengthy court case. Then, have their own media jump to conclusions and accuse the Australian player in question of racial abuse, and then start claiming the Aussies used their power to get out of trouble. Then India should keep bringing up the case during any future match between India and Australia.

It is highly troubling when a person raises a question, then completely forgets about the same in quick time. In a seperate thread that you started Bharath, you had wondered about the sportsmanship of younger generation, do you not see that this episode is linked to the very question you had raised?? The easiest thing for an Indian fan to do is to criticize non-Indian team(in this case Australia). However it must take a blind-as-a-bat fan to assume that Indian players were totally clean in the episode down under. As I have oft mentioned earlier, if one is truly SRT fan then he/she should go hammer and tongs after Harbhajan Singh because the latter is one reason why SRT would forever be tainted as a cheat. SRT has been playing International cricket for 20 years. And in this time not one expert/player has ever accused him of being anything but exceptional role model. Towards the *** end of his career he is looked as someone who saved his loony team member after the loony retard uttered an expletive on the field. When I read the article and I run by this line - which Tendulkar promptly replied, 'Leave it alone. I'll fix this, I'll sort this out.' , it tells me immediately that not too many people in International cricket can make that kind of statement and expect opposition captain to listen to them. Only a true great like Sachin, Lara, Akram could have said that. That is the measure of the man. Oddly enough he had to do this for a retard who managed to drag an entire career of legend with himself. What bothers me is not what if Ponting is wrong. Wrong or right he has not received much support from Aussies, including his board(Symonds even called quits for the way this whole thing was handled). What bothers me is what if the billion populace India is soooo wrong? What if Bhajji did utter racial slur and every Indian fan still ended up supporting him? xxx

[bharat297]

Lurker you are right ... Bhajji may have uttered that racial slur. However, given the evidence we can not say for sure that he did. There was simply no proof. For that reason and that reason only we must assume he is innocent. I completely and totally agree that Harbhajan can be a tool on the field most of the time. He has exhibited many unsportsmanly traits. However Lurker, there is a big difference between showing bad sportsmanship and being a racist. I have not forgotten what I wrote before and this does not contradict my earlier statements. Ponting, Hayden, and Clarke do not know what Bhajji said. Tendulkar does not know what Bhajji said. Ponting, Hayden and Clarke were taking the word of their own teammate Symonds, and Tendulkar was taking the word of his own teammate Harbhajan. I do not have a problem with the actions of any of the 4 men mentioned. My issue in this was that the court case was done and finished. When asked about it Tendulkar simply stated "Its a closed chapter" ... on the other hand Ponting has come out with this ... drudging it all out again. We can only go by facts. Based on facts, Bhajji is assumed to be innocent. That is only fair and I think the Australians should move on.

[Lurker]

Lurker you are right ... Bhajji may have uttered that racial slur. However, given the evidence we can not say for sure that he did. There was simply no proof. For that reason and that reason only we must assume he is innocent.

Wont be the first time in history someone got away now Bharath, would it? The way BCCI pulls its muscle these days I would be very surprised if a behind the door compromise was not reached. Dont we all know how BCCI is arm twisting ICC for IPL/ICL saga?

However Lurker, there is a big difference between showing bad sportsmanship and being a racist. I have not forgotten what I wrote before and this does not contradict my earlier statements.

And thats what I want Indian fans to concentrate on. Lets have some facts. Australia has been the dominant cricket power for last 2 decades. Do they really need to create a racist issue when none existed?? What for?? They can win without that surely. How many times has an Australian team accused other country of racist overtones?? On the other hand Indian crowd specially has been known to behave in a racist manner(remember the whole idiotic argument of How can money ke racist, we worship monkey god after all)? So yes lets keep our options open and not celebrate Harbhajan/SRT as angel and vilify Symonds/Ponting as criminals.

Ponting, Hayden, and Clarke do not know what Bhajji said. Tendulkar does not know what Bhajji said. Ponting, Hayden and Clarke were taking the word of their own teammate Symonds, and Tendulkar was taking the word of his own teammate Harbhajan. I do not have a problem with the actions of any of the 4 men mentioned.

They all do. Thats the case. Hayden was the witness. Clarke was the first person at the scene, Ponting arrived later on of course. Sachin was the man closest to Harbhajan when Symonds had walked by and the incident happened. Indeed it is Sachin's testimony that saved Harbhajan, please check any major media and let me know if I am wrong.

My issue in this was that the court case was done and finished. When asked about it Tendulkar simply stated "Its a closed chapter" ... on the other hand Ponting has come out with this ... drudging it all out again. We can only go by facts. Based on facts, Bhajji is assumed to be innocent. That is only fair and I think the Australians should move on.

Lets reverse the role a bit here. Australia playing in India and Symonds calls Harbhajan a Black fool..or something like that..the issue boils to maximum, series is about to be abandoned and so on. Would Indian players forget the entire saga and say all's well and lets put it behind us? Heck we have players like Sunny Gavaskar that still carry "scars" of 30 year old era. Would Indian fans be interested to know what transpired behind the scenes?? Or would they just move on. It is always a different story when the shoe is on the other foot and all that.

[bharat297]

Wont be the first time in history someone got away now Bharath, would it? The way BCCI pulls its muscle these days I would be very surprised if a behind the door compromise was not reached. Dont we all know how BCCI is arm twisting ICC for IPL/ICL saga?

Well at the end of the day, there was not any evidence to convict Bhajji so its not just about BCCI muscle. If one looks at this objectively then they will see that when there is no substantial evidence, he had to be let free. The initial verdict by Mike Proctor was that "only one country is telling the truth" ... Now this was before any evidence was put forth and only taking one group of players' word over the other. Based on that he received a suspension. BCCI were well within their rights to complain and if you think other boards wouldnt have complained if that happened to them, then you are being naive.

And thats what I want Indian fans to concentrate on. Lets have some facts. Australia has been the dominant cricket power for last 2 decades. Do they really need to create a racist issue when none existed?? What for?? They can win without that surely. How many times has an Australian team accused other country of racist overtones?? On the other hand Indian crowd specially has been known to behave in a racist manner(remember the whole idiotic argument of How can money ke racist, we worship monkey god after all)?

Im not condoning the behaviour of the Indian crowds. That was racist. However, the Australian crowds can be just as racist if not more at times. I have witnessed this first hand. And just because the team has been successful on the field doesnt mean that their behaviour is necessarily good (and any claim they make must be true because simply because they can win anyway) and I fail to see how one necessarily relates to the other.

So yes lets keep our options open and not celebrate Harbhajan/SRT as angel and vilify Symonds/Ponting as criminals.

Ive never referred to them as that. I have been very open about my criticism of Bhajji's on field behaviour in the past. However its an extremely serious accusation to call someone racist. He can be quite unsportsmanly and ungentlemently at times, but I have never called him or anyone else racist because its a very serious accusation. The only issue I have with Symonds and Ponting was that they keep drudging this issue up even 11 months after it happened. Its done with, they should move on. After the case Ponting said he just wanted to put the whole issue behind him ... yet here he is 11 months later and he is still bringing this up.

Hayden was the witness. Clarke was the first person at the scene, Ponting arrived later on of course. Sachin was the man closest to Harbhajan when Symonds had walked by and the incident happened. Indeed it is Sachin's testimony that saved Harbhajan, please check any major media and let me know if I am wrong.

Well thats partly true ... but the killing blow for the Aussie's case was Symonds testimony himself. Symonds had admitted that he was not sure that Bhajji had uttered the word "monkey" and not "teri maa ki" . Symonds when asked that he said "Yeah Possibly, I dont really speak the language". None of the other players had said they had heard anything. All they heard were other players reactions to it. Tendulkar's testimony was important, but no Australian player was sure Bhajji had said "monkey" and there was no evidence to prove he did. The people making the accusations werent sure.

Lets reverse the role a bit here. Australia playing in India and Symonds calls Harbhajan a Black fool..or something like that..the issue boils to maximum, series is about to be abandoned and so on. Would Indian players forget the entire saga and say all's well and lets put it behind us? Heck we have players like Sunny Gavaskar that still carry "scars" of 30 year old era. Would Indian fans be interested to know what transpired behind the scenes?? Or would they just move on.

Well thats purely hypothetical. Its as simple as "innocent until proven guilty" and if no Indian player was sure Symonds said "black fool" and there was no evidence either then, I certainly wouldnt assume Symonds was a racist. I cant speak for others though. Glenn McGrath was accused of calling Sanath a 'black monkey' ... Now I go by the same process and say that McGrath is innocent of that too because there was simply no proof. Imagine if that had been blown up like this issue. Imagine if McGrath was suspended purely based on the word of the Sri Lankans. Imagine if the match referee said "Its clear only one country is telling the truth". Would the Australians have simply said "Yep, thats sweet" and CA simply said "ok lets move on"? CA would have defended McGrath and lodged and appeal just like BCCI did. I am sure the Australian fans and players wouldnt like it if the Sri Lankans kept bringing it up every couple of months and claiming that it was some miraculous escape. There were no miracles here. In the end, a neutral judge looked at the facts and Harbhajan (only based on the facts) had to be found not guilty. The Australians should move on.