Cricket

I was asked to drop Bhajji charges: Ponting

Ricky Ponting has said he was approached by a senior member of the India touring party during the acrimonious Sydney Test and asked to drop Australia’s complaint against Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan was alleged to have racially abused Andrew Symonds during the game and Ponting said that even before Harbhajan’s three-Test ban was handed down it was clear the matter would not be straightforward.

Ponting’s recollections are revealed in his Captain’s Diary 2008, an extract of which has been published in the Weekend Australian.

“On the night after we made our on-field report about Harbhajan, I had a phone conversation with a senior member of the Indian touring party, who asked me straight to drop the complaint,” Ponting wrote.

“Why do we need to keep it quiet?” I asked. His reply had nothing to do with Harbhajan’s guilt or innocence; this fellow was more concerned with how events were going to transpire and tried to convince me it might not be worth the stress of going ahead with what might well be a prolonged legal process.”

The conversation happened after play on day four, the evening before Harbhajan was suspended in a late-night hearing with the match referee Mike Procter. As it turned out, the ban was overturned, but only after a bitter period during which India considered whether to go ahead with the rest of the tour. Ponting said there was no chance he was going to back down and withdraw Australia’s complaint.

Tags: andrew symonds, harbhajan singh, ricky ponting