Gilchrist Autobiography, "True Colours: My Life" releasing next week

On the dramatic final moments of the Sydney Test when the last two batsmen, Anil Kumble and Ishant Sharma, walked off without any Australians offering a handshake, Gilchrist said: "We went into the Indian changing room and shook hands. Not all their players could be found, which points to another subtle cultural difference."

He wrote how he received a telephone call from his manager telling him to turn on his laptop and check his emails. One of them linked to a website that featured an anonymous email saying his recently born son Harry had been fathered by his former teammate Michael Slater.

Before taking the field in the first Test in Johannesburg, he spotted a huge banner reading: "Baby Gilly, who's your daddy?" Next to it, another sign read: "Slater, Slater." When he went out to bat in Johannesberg , Gilchrist was "in a terrible state" but he went on to score an unbeaten 204 not out, racking up the fastest Test double century in history. "This was the first time I cried on a cricket field," he said

Gilchrist pointed to tensions with Tendulkar, Test cricket’s all-time leading run-scorer, revealing he was "hard to find for a changing room handshake after we have beaten India".

He also questioned Tendulkar’s honesty during the acrimonious Harbhajan Singh-Andrew Symonds incident last January.

To another channel, IBN-Lokmat, Tendulkar defended himself against Gilchrist's remark that he was "hard to find for a changing-room handshake after we have beaten India".

"Before, during and after the match I don't like to enter the opposition dressing-room as it is not my culture," Tendulkar said. "But I have nothing against other cultures. I have never walked off a ground without shaking the opposition players' hands."

“He should not be talking about Sachin. It is all rubbish," Harbhajan told the Age. "We don't respect him. He pretends to be a saint and people say he walks when he nicks, but why did he appeal when batsmen don't nick?

"He always changes his mind according to a situation. If Australia is close to a victory he is always going up [appealing], whether it is out or not out. We don't need him to say these things [about Tendulkar] just because he is retired."

"I don't want to talk about that episode again and again. It is over," Harbhajan said. "If you talk to any guy who plays or follows cricket about Sachin Tendulkar, they will talk about the respect he commands. These guys can't come close to him. I am really shocked."

"We are very focused on cricket and on the next Test in Delhi," Harbhajan said. "We know Australia will come back very strong. It has been a great series so far. There have been no dramas in the first two Tests. I hope the next two will be played in the gentleman's spirit."