By IANS
Sydney : Cricket Australia (CA) has taken a strong objection to India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s latest outburst against Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, and has demanded the Indian board discipline him.
CA chief executive James Sutherland Saturday wrote to Indian board secretary Niranjan Shah expressing exasperation with the controversial spinner.
“Enough is enough,” Sutherland wrote. “Despite assurances that you have instructed him not to fuel this issue any more, Harbhajan continues to say whatever he wants. When will it ever end? Could you please deal with your player in regard to these comments?”
CA was quick to deal with Hayden when he called Harbhajan “a little obnoxious weed” in an early morning radio interview, and believes the Indian spinner has not been held to the same standards.
With the tour finished, and the spinner delivering his latest insults after India’s triumphant homecoming, Sutherland took a more direct approach.
“We’ve tried over the summer to get the balance right in the way controversial comments have been managed and we certainly, through our actions with Matthew Hayden, have been firm with our own players in terms of where the tipping point is,” a CA spokesman was quoted as saying in The Sydney Morning Herald.
“We believe it is possible to make intelligent, thoughtful and even provocative public comment without descending to personal abuse.”
Upon stepping off the plane in India, Harbhajan told a Delhi-based tabloid that he was upset that Hayden and the now-retired Gilchrist who supported Symonds in the race row. He called Hayden a “big liar” and questioned the ethics of Gilchrist.