Zeenews Bureau
Adelaide, Jan 28: The tour of Down Under seems to be under a threat as players in Team India have made it clear that they would be keen to return home mid-way of the series if the ICC doesn’t drop charges against tweaker Harbhajan Singh. The revelation came during the final day of the final Test match being played at Adelaide.
It is learnt that even the team management is cross over the emergence of the additional ‘evidence’ against the offie in the form of a stump microphone recording. The evidence was nowhere in the offering earlier but suddenly, the ICC have decided to employ it as a prime data to base their decision on Harbhajan Singh.
The entire saga started when Harbhajan Singh of India was accused of racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds by calling him a ‘monkey’. The Indian team has vehemently denied this charge and Sachin Tendulkar, who was the other player present at the time the ‘alleged’ incident took place, has also denied any such abuses being said.
The Indian board, it is learnt, will not agree if fresh evidence in the form of transcript from a stump microphone emerges in the two-day hearing on Harbhajan Singh`s appeal against a ban beginning here tomorrow.
"The evidence could be tampered, it could be doctored. We wouldn`t allow this so-called fresh evidence to surface after so many days," stated a highly placed Indian board official today.
The day began with the ICC appointed commissioner in charge of the proceedings, Justice John Hansen, outlining the procedures for the hearing. Among other things, the most startling was the procedure in which "additional evidence" in the form of "transcript available from the stump microphone" being used to decide on the case.
"There may be some additional evidence, such as the transcript available from the stump microphone, which was not available to Mr (Mike) Procter," the judge from New Zealand said.
IS Bindra, a senior BCCI official, has been here since last week and spent evenings with the president of Cricket Australia (CA), Craig O`Connor, in order to thrash out the contentious issue.
