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Sydney: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) have come under attack from sections of the Australian media after Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was cleared of racially abusing Andrew Symonds.
Australian newspapers accused the BCCI of using their financial muscle to hold the world game to ransom while criticising the ICC for bowing to their demands.
The Sydney Morning Herald's headline read "Cricket's day of shame" while The Australian proclaimed "Cricket caves in to India's demands." The Sun-Herald's main headline was "India gets its way, Harbhajan charge downgraded, ban overturned."
Harbhajan had originally been suspended for three matches after being found guilty of calling Symonds, Australia's only black player, a "monkey" during this month's bad-tempered second Test in Sydney.
The Indian cricket board had threatened to cancel the tour unless the ICC dropped the charges but the crisis was averted on Tuesday when Harbhajan won an appeal against the original ruling.
Harbhajan was cleared when the appeal judge agreed to downgrade the charge to the lesser offence of abusing an opponent. He pleaded guilty and was fined half his match fee but the three-match ban was lifted.
The broadsheet Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Indian cricket board had chartered a plane to take their players home if the verdict went against Harbhajan while Cricket Australia persuaded their own players to drop the charges and agree to a lesser offence.
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