By Veturi Srivatsa, IANS
New Delhi : The Indian and Australian cricket board will be making a last-ditch effort to resolve the crisis created by the Harbhajan Singh issue and save India’s tour down under when the chiefs of the two boards Sharad Pawar and Creagh O’Connor arrive in Dubai to attend an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting Monday.
A senior Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official told IANS Sunday that the board has already lined up a contingency plan in case the Cricket Australia (CA) and the ICC Council refuse to sea reason in India’s appeal against the three-Test ban on off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
“The players are so incensed at the match referee’s handling of the whole thing that they see a sinister move to harass the Indian players,” he said.
“The only way to salvage the situation is for Cricket Australia to prevail upon captain Ricky Ponting not to press the racial charge against Harbhajan.”
As things stand, the official said, there is no move to pull out of the tour but if the board’s sincere effort to save the series is taken as its weakness then things could go out of hand.
If Dubai effort fails, the BCCI would not be able to rein in the players, particularly the seniors, if they decide to pull out of the tri-series after the four-match Test series, which end in Adelaide on Jan 28. The players naturally want the issue resolved before the first match of the tri-series including Sri Lanka as third team, begins at the Gabba, Brisbane, on Feb 3.
One thing is for sure, the delay in hearing of Harbhajan’s appeal by the Appeals Commissioner John Hansen of New Zealand is helping all the parties in thrashing out a solution to everyone’s satisfaction.
The CA is as much worried about the consequences as withdrawal by senior Indian cricketers will play havoc on its sponsorship as well as the television companies who will lose out heavily if some of the senior players refuse to play and an India B team is fielded in the tri-series.
The star value of the Indian team could be seen from the big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh. Only Anil Kumble has retired from the one-dayers and V.V.S. Laxman does not enjoy the confidence of the national selectors though he is still keen on playing in the limited-overs cricket.