Kids in the Kitchen



Okay, one last, quick thing about this whole Indian-Australian/Harbhajan-Symonds feud, and then we can all move on. I promise. (NAB cup in two weeks!)

Only Harbhajan knows what he said. Whether he said ‘monkey’, or a Hindu term about Roy’s mother, or, according to the saintly Sachin Tendulkar, nothing at all, can never be proven.

However, I find it strikingly incompetent, not to mention terribly convenient, that the ICC did not present Harbhajan’s history of bad on-field form to the man charged with making a decision at his hearing. Perhaps they left it in onboard the chartered 747 at Adelaide airport, whilst they were drawing up Harbhajan’s plea bargain.

And the suggestion that Andrew Symonds has himself to blame for ‘possibly’ being racially abused because he’s a competitor is an odd and inherently wrong conclusion to reach: It is akin to saying a rape victim wearing a short skirt was probably asking for it, even though you’ve just said no rape had occurred. (That this conclusion came from a High Court judge is not the least bit surprising.)

There is a line between competitive sledging and racial abuse, just as there is a line between provocation and personal responsibility.

Yes, I’m supporting the home team, but it makes it easier that the entire Indian touring party, officials included, have behaved like corrupted brats, with the ICC playing the role of pushover parents.

Whatever the case, no-one was surprised with the outcome of Harbhajan’s appeal hearing. Just another spoiled child getting his own way.