> India vs Australia Second Test @ Sydney Cricket Ground

Originally Posted by dipen01

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Ricky Ponting is adamant that he had to report Harbhajan Singh for an alleged racist comment during the second Test match between India and Australia in Sydney.

Anil Kumble, the India captain, revealed yesterday that he had asked Ponting, his Australian counterpart, to resolve the matter privately to avoid the crisis that has since disrupted the series.

But Ponting says it was his responsibility to lodge an official complaint with the on-field umpires because racism in cricket is too important a problem to treat lightly.

"I carried out my duties as captain," Ponting told the Nine Network television station. "It's not about me reporting anybody, it's the umpires' job to do that and that's what they did."

"When we sat down at the end and I had a really good chat with him and the Indian management and the few other players that were there.

"I said 'look, this is not about us, this is a big issue in the game and I want to move on. When this is done I want us to play the best series we can from here on' - and he agreed with that."

``There were a few people who rang in the past few days, having a dig,'' Ponting said on Thursday in a newspaper. ``It was disappointing for them to have to go through that.''

``Everyone likes to see a tough, uncompromising brand of cricket,'' he said. ``But if there are areas in our game to improve on then obviously we need to address that.

``I don't think anyone wants the way Australia plays cricket to change.

Ponting does not believe the team is arrogant. "I don't think anyone wants the way Australia plays cricket to change," he said. "Everyone likes to see a tough, uncompromising brand of cricket ... If we were big headed and arrogant we wouldn't have been celebrating like that. Big headedness doesn't go hand in hand with the sort of euphoria we showed at the end of the game."

Ponting, who was lbw after hitting the ball in the first innings, told the paper there were things "that in hindsight you might do a little differently". "There's no doubt I stood there for a second or two too long and I shouldn't have done that," he said. "It probably didn't help that I was shown throwing my bat when I got back to the rooms.

"Some of the guys mightn't have shaken Anil Kumble's hand after the game but we were so wrapped up with the end of the game that they were already off the field. We all walked along when it was over and shook their hands."

He has also set himself a big task to get inside the hearts of all Australians. "What I want is for the Australian cricket team to be the most loved and the most respected sporting side in this country," he said. "That's always been one of my aims and it will continue to be."