International cricket officials were on Monday night locked in intense negotiations to try to resurrect India’s tour of Australia after allegations of racism against one of the tourists’ leading players threatened to plunge the game into crisis.
In a row that has reopened the racial fault lines in the international game, the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) announced on Monday that it had temporarily suspended its tour after the off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was banned for three matches for allegedly racially abusing Andrew Symonds, Australia’s only black player.
The Australians allege that Singh called Symonds a ”monkey” in a heated exchange during the second Test in Sydney, which was won narrowly by Australia on Sunday evening. The Indians deny that any racist language was used, and the BCCI’s decision to suspend the tour — in effect a threat to return home if Singh is not cleared on appeal — is a direct challenge to the authority of the game’s governing body, the International Cricket Council.
The Indian board has also demanded the removal of the two umpires who officiated in the Sydney Test and issued an official complaint against the Australian player Brad Hogg, who it claims called the Indian captain Anil Kumble a ”bastard” during the game.
The row between two of the game’s most powerful and successful nations brought effigy-burning crowds on to the streets of Indian cities and has prompted comparisons to some of cricket’s most controversial episodes. In a parody of the 1930s Bodyline controversy, when English bowlers deliberately aimed to hit opposing batsmen, the new crisis has been dubbed ”Bollyline” by the Australian media.
The dispute, which has echoes of the ball-tampering row during the Oval Test between England and Pakistan in 2006, has once again exposed the sensitivity of relations between the Asian cricketing nations and the rest of the world.
India is the game’s economic powerhouse, providing 70% of cricket’s global revenue, and with fellow Asian nations Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh represents the most powerful bloc in the world game.
Many in international cricket feel the BCCI is too quick to wield its economic muscle in disputes of this nature, however, and senior figures believe the latest move amounts to India holding the game to ransom.
Race remains an acutely sensitive subject in the game. Symonds was the subject of racist barracking during Australia’s recent tour of India, and the ICC recently settled with the Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who claimed his dismissal in the wake of the Pakistan cheating row amounted to racial discrimination.
The exchange between Symonds and Singh was the low point of a rancorous match in which several contentious umpiring decisions went against India, and contributed to their defeat. The bad feeling between the sides was evident throughout the game, moving the normally equable Kumble to complain that ”only one team was playing in the spirit of the game”.
The most notable incident came when Symonds was given not out on the first day despite edging a catch to the Indian wicketkeeper having scored just 30 runs. He went on to make a match-turning 162 not out, and in subsequent interviews was unrepentant about not ”walking” when he should have been dismissed.
The row with Harbhajan Singh came on the third day when the Indian was batting, and the pair, both known for their intense competitive edge, were separated by team-mates after a long exchange apparently initiated by Symonds. Despite not hearing the exchange the umpires, the West Indian Steve Bucknor and Englishman Mark Benson, spoke to the players on the field and Singh was charged at the end of the day after Australia’s captain, Ricky Ponting, complained.
At the official hearing, which continued into the early hours on Monday, Ponting and Symonds testified that Singh had used the word monkey. Kumble and the senior player Sachin Tedulkar, who was batting with Singh at the time, denied the allegation. But the South African match referee, Mike Procter, said he was satisfied that Singh had used the word and that ”he meant it to offend on the basis of Symonds’ race or ethnic origin”.
With the third Test due to begin in Perth on January 16, the ICC is under intense pressure to deliver a compromise that allows the series to continue. With the BCCI facing heavy financial penalties if India withdraw, few expect the tour to be called off. One option being considered is to delay Singh’s appeal until after the fourth Test, which starts on January 24, enabling the tour to continue. – Guardian Unlimited Â