Well, we’ve won. Not the Test series, but at least a moral victory. What has transpired in the past few days has definitely not been cricket. In the 2nd Test we played our hearts out, but the umpires gifted the match away to Australia.
If that wasn’t enough, Harbhajan was slapped a three match ban for alleged racial abuse against Andrew Symonds. The ban came after an apparent one-sided hearing by match referee Mike Procter. Indian skipper Anil Kumble reacted by saying that “only one team played in the right spirits.”
In the days that followed, the cricketing world and the public rose up in anger at the treatment meted out to Team India. But Justice has been done. Steve Bucknor has been removed from officiating in the remaining India-Australia Test series and Harbhajan Singh has been cleared to play pending his appeal against the ban.
-TOI, Ajay Khullar Jan.08, 2007
