Enough is enough, say Australia

Sydney: Cricket Australia (CA) have lodged a formal complaint with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over comments made by Harbhajan Singh about Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

CA chief executive James Sutherland asked the Indian board to take action against Harbhajan after he called Hayden "a big liar" and said Gilchrist was "no saint".

"Enough is enough," Sutherland wrote in a letter to the board, published in the Sun Herald newspaper on Sunday.

"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?"

The BCCI said it had instructed Harbhajan not to comment on the controversies which marred the tour Down Under.

"We have told Harbhajan that there should be no more such comments," BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said yesterday. "We both [boards] feel players should not get into these things again."

Harbhajan, nicknamed Bhajji by teammates, was involved in several disputes with the Australian players during their recent tour. Relations between the teams deteriorated to such a point that the Indians briefly suspended the tour and the International Cricket Council (ICC) appointed a mediator to broker a peace deal.

Harbhajan was originally banned for three matches after the Australians complained that he made racist comments about Andrew Symonds during the second Test, but the suspension was overturned on appeal when the charge was downgraded to a lesser offence.

Simmering tension

Both teams were warned about their behaviour, but the tension remained. CA reprimanded Hayden after he called Harbhajan an "obnoxious weed" during the one-day series.

India complained to CA about Hayden's comments and instructed their own players not to retaliate to ensure the row did not escalate.