Captains promise a memorable contest
Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, has said his side haven't discussed the racism charge against Harbhajan Singh and hoped they could decide on a course of action over the next few weeks. Both he and Anil Kumble want the teams to renew their healthy rivalry in the third Test in Perth and promised fans a memorable contest.
With India dropping their charge against Brad Hogg it had led to speculation over Australia softening their stance on Harbhajan but Ponting felt it was best to wait, now that the hearing date had been set for January 29 and 30.
"The Hogg issue was withdrawn only last night," Ponting said at the WACA. "We have a pretty important Test match to play in a few hours time and that [Harbhajan issue] hasn't been spoken about at all in the group. My feeling is that the hearing wouldn't be until after the Adelaide game anyway, so there would probably be some time for the hierarchy to sit back and discuss anything that hasn't been [talked about] so far."
Ponting reiterated that plenty of positives had come out of his interaction with Kumble on Monday evening. "It's good that Anil and I sat down like two grown men yesterday and had a good chat," he said. "I feel a lot happier after yesterday's meeting and I am sure Anil does the same. Both of us have been under a lot of pressure this week.
"I can only go by the word of Anil who said there wasn't [any bad blood between the two teams] and I said the same thing. No doubt you will see this game played in terrific spirit, like the Melbourne Test and the majority of Sydney Test as well. We are happy to leave everything behind us and with India withdrawing their charge against Hogg last night, they have shown that they really want to move on with things as well."
Kumble echoed Ponting's sentiments. "It's important that we ensure that people remember the cricket. That didn't happen unfortunately in Sydney. We've left that behind and it's time to move on."
The only issue which Ponting didn't seem happy about was the catching agreement being scrapped at the meeting. However, he hoped that the close decisions would be made by the on-field umpires themselves, instead of referring to the third official. "It's been scrapped, as of yesterday," he said. "And that wasn't the way I wanted to play. But the feeling through the Indian team, and probably not just Anil's thoughts on it, was that they would like it to go back and be in the hands of the on-field umpires.
"I've just had a chat with the umpires out on the ground now about the whole thing and they'll be endeavouring to make the call between themselves on the field rather than referring everything. That's the way it's going to be, I think, for the rest of the series."
Kumble wasn't aware that a final decision had been taken but welcomed it all the same. "I had said earlier that the agreement will be reviewed. If the match referee has communicated it to Ricky, that's the way it is."
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