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BCCI to discuss Harbhajan issue

K.P. Mohan

Appeal to ICC relates only to three-match suspension of the player

— PHOTO: AP

IN THE EYE OF A STORM: Cricketer Harbhajan Singh in the foyer of a Sydney hotel on Monday.

NEW DELHI: The Working Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will meet here on Tuesday in an emergency session to discuss the fall-out of the suspension of Harbhajan Singh and to review further steps related to the Australian tour.

The Board stated on Monday that the charge against Harbhajan was baseless and the decision of the match referee, Mike Proctor, was unacceptable. It wanted the International Cricket Council to keep in abeyance the suspension until the ICC dealt with India’s appeal.

A Board official said late on Monday evening that the appeal was already filed with the ICC. The appeal related only to the three-match suspension of Harbhajan and not to any possible change of umpires.

Vice-President Rajiv Shukla, however, told mediapersons earlier that the Board had conveyed to the ICC that the umpires who supervised the Sydney Test (Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson) be kept away from further matches of the Indian team on the tour.

The Board’s stand on the umpires issue is not yet clear, with one official pointing out that any change of the umpires posted for a match is solely the prerogative of the ICC and the Board could at best move a resolution at a later date to downgrade a particular umpire.

“We are an integral part of the ICC and we cannot take such a decision lightly,” said a Board official. The Board has asked the Indian team not to move out of Sydney till further instructions.

After an emergency meeting of senior officials available in Delhi, including the former President, I. S. Bindra, and Vice-President Arun Jaitley, who is also a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, at the Board President Sharad Pawar’s residence, the Board issued the following statement:

“The BCCI has viewed the happenings during the second cricket Test between India and Australia in Sydney with great concern as some of these can have a far-reaching impact on international cricket. Some of [the] incidents are highly regrettable considering the warm and friendly relations between the Indian and Australian cricket boards. The incident involving Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds and the subsequent hearing by the ICC Match Referee and his conclusions are, to say the least, distressing.

“The Indian Board does not accept the findings of the Match Referee and has decided to challenge the unfair decision to suspend Harbhajan Singh as it deems it [decision] patently unfair. The Board will appeal to the International Cricket Council to review the decision of the Match Referee and suspend its operation till the appeal is disposed of. The Indian Board realises [that] the game of cricket is paramount, but so too is the honour of the Indian team and for that matter every Indian. To vindicate its position, the Board will fight the blatantly false and unfair slur on an Indian player.

“The Board also questions the very conduct of the hearing as the Match Referee, before reaching his decision, disregarded the essential point of any inquiry, that it should be based on facts, rational and objective.

“Here it may be mentioned that it is an avowed policy of the Indian government to fight racial discrimination at every level and the Indian Board has been at the forefront to eradicate it from the game of cricket. For the Indian Board, anti-racial stance is an article of faith as it is for the entire nation, which fought the apartheid policies. The Board has always fought the racist sledging of players and spectators and it will continue to do so.”

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