India resumed its troubled cricket tour of Australia on Wednesday, arriving in Canberra two days behind schedule after the International Cricket Council brokered a temporary peace settlement.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India gave its team approval to check out of the Sydney hotel which had been its refuge since a storm broke over umpiring, sportsmanship and racial abuse during the second Test at Sydney.
The Indians are in the Australian capital for Thursday’s tour match against an Australian Capital Territory XI.
Ill feeling between the Australian and Indian teams continued to simmer but the ICC broke the impasse when it ordered umpire Steve Bucknor be replaced for next week’s third Test in Perth by New Zealander Billy Bowden.
The ICC also confirmed Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh could play in Perth while his three-Test suspension for making alleged racist comments to Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds is under appeal.
A date for the appeal is yet to be announced.
Asked if Harbhajan would play in Perth, Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan on Wednesday said: ”That will depend on the appeal and the ruling of the appeal.”
Chauhan said the Indian team had ”left behind” the bitter fall-out from the Sydney Test.
”They [the Indian team] can play thanks to the efforts of the BCCI and also it’s very nice to have the ICC to come together and hopefully everything will be settled and we will play good cricket,” Chauhan said.
”We have certain issues which we brought to the notice of the BCCI and those issues have been taken up with the ICC and some positions have been taken.”
ICC chief Malcolm Speed said the decision to remove Bucknor, who made a series of contentious errors during the second Test at Sydney, had avoided an ”international crisis”.
”We could have gone in banging the table and playing ‘who blinks first’, we could have turned what is already an international incident into an international crisis,” Speed said.
”What we have elected to do, and we’ve given some serious thought about this, is to take one of the issues out of play.
”There was unhappiness about the umpiring, we put a new umpiring team in place, and we start again from the umpiring perspective in Perth and hopefully focus on the matters on the pitch rather than exacerbating the crisis.”
ICC chief referee Ranjan Madugalle will hold talks with Australia captain Ricky Ponting and rival Anil Kumble in Perth next week in an attempt to clear the air ahead of the third Test.
Australia leads the series 2-0 and is on a world-record equaling 16 Test winning streak. – Sapa-AP