By IANS
Kolkata : Sharad Pawar, President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Friday came out in support of Harbhajan Singh, stating that the player could not have made any racist comment to his Aussie counterpart Andrew Symonds.
Pawar, who is here in his capacity as agriculture minister, said: “I am confident that Harbhajan has not made any such comment to Symonds. I checked with Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and other senior players and they are all standing firmly behind Harbhajan.
“I am sure his ban would be lifted once the matter comes up for hearing before the appeals commission.”
Harbhajan has been banned for three Tests by International Cricket Council’s match referee Mike Procter for allegedly hurling racial abuse at Australian player Andrew Symonds.
The BCCI has appealed against the ban and Justice John Hansen, a high court judge in New Zealand, will conduct a fresh hearing. He is the representative of New Zeeland in the ICC Code of Conduct Commission.
Pawar said that Arun Jaitley and Shashank Manohar were looking after the legal aspects of the case on behalf of the Indian board.
“BCCI and Cricket Australia (its counterpart) enjoy an excellent rapport and their relationship will only continue to prosper. The Sydney incident is a sad one,” he said.