By Neena Bhandari, IANS
Sydney/Melbourne : Opener Matthew Hayden’s “obnoxious-little-weed” comment against India’s Harbhajan Singh has landed him in trouble, with Cricket Australia (CA) Wednesday instituting a probe into the incident.
“CA has charged Hayden with a breach of the CA code of behaviour following comments he made about Harbhajan during a media interview in Brisbane on February 26,” CA said in Melbourne.
The Australian board will appoint a code of conduct commissioner from its panel and convene a hearing later Wednesday.
Hayden had made the remark against Harbhajan on a Brisbane radio station Tuesday.
“It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan. The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now,” Hayden had told the radio station.
Hayden was charged under Rule 9 of the CA code of behaviour that prohibits detrimental public comment. Rule guidelines prohibit public denigration of other players against whom they have played or will play.
The Australia opener told the radio station: “It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan. The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now.
“His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time. That’s why he has been charged more than anyone that’s ever played in the history of cricket.”
Harbhajan has been in the news for all the wrong reasons since the start of India’s current Australia tour. During the second Test in Sydney, Andrew Symonds alleged that the wily off-spinner had called him “monkey”, a charge that could not be proved eventually.
Harbhajan was suspended for three Tests by match referee Mike Procter, but an International Cricket Council commissioner reduced the penalty to a fine following an appeal of the India spinner.
India lost the four-match Test series 1-2, but will clash with Australia in the best-of-three finals of the Commonwealth Bank Triangular One-day Series starting Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.