M A I N   N E W S

BCCI cools down, tour to go on

Mumbai, January 12
India's cricket board has withdrawn its threat to pull out of the current Australian tour if a ban on Harbhajan Singh was not overturned by the International Cricket Council. “There is no question of the tour being called off,” board spokesman Rajiv Shukla quoted president Sharad Pawar as saying on Saturday.

“He (Pawar) said the two boards intend to maintain good relations as there is no problem with the two,” Shukla said.

Harbhajan was banned for three Tests after being found guilty of making a racist remark to Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during last week’s controversial second test in Sydney.

However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its players have denied any racist remark was made by Harbhajan, with the board threatening to pull out unless the player was exonerated on appeal.

The ICC has appointed New Zealand High Court judge John Hansen as appeals commissioner but has yet to set a date for the hearing.

Pawar has said the Indian board would like the appeal to be heard before the one-day series in Australia starts on February 3.

India is to play in a triangular series in Australia, also involving Sri Lanka, next month after the conclusion of the four-Test series.

Canberra: ICC Chief Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle has requested rival captains Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting to be present for a “cool-off” session at Perth on Monday, two days before the third Test begins there.

It is learnt that Kumble and his Australian counterpart Ponting have been asked if they could meet in Perth in order to build bridges over the fractured relationship between the two sides.

Kumble had set a conciliatory tone when he had declared on arrival here that he would have no problem in meeting with Ponting at the initiative of Madugalle.

Ponting, too, has softened his approach by declaring in a local newspaper that he would ask his team-mates to assemble in Perth and review a “few things they had done during the Sydney Test.”

Ponting had also mentioned that he was not happy with his own conduct when he stayed put at the crease in the first innings after being given out.

Madugalle has been sent by the ICC with the purpose of getting the two warring captains together and help Match Referee Mike Procter in the discharge of his duties.

By all accounts, the next three days in Perth in lead up to the Test are going to be pretty hectic. — Agencies

Hogg slur ‘not racist’, hearing tomorrow

Melbourne: Brad Hogg could be let off with a lighter punishment as the word “b*****d” allegedly used by him during the ill-tempered Sydney Test was not nominated by Anil Kumble among the racially offensive terms before the start of the series, a media report claimed.

Under the ICC’s anti-racism code, the touring team is asked to advise the match referee of terms regarded as offensive in its culture but Kumble did not nominate “b*****d” as an offensive label, a Sydney Morning Herald report said.

Hogg had been charged by Indian team manager Chetan Chauhan of having said Anil Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni that he was “looking forward to running through you b*****ds”. The Australian spinner will appear for a hearing before match referee Mike Procter in Perth, likely on Monday. — PTI