Tendulkar told Procter he heard some abuse'

Indian cricket officials have criticised Adam Gilchrist, the former Australian wicketkeeper, for questioningSachin Tendulkar’s honesty during the controversial Sydney Test last year. MV Sridhar, the Indian team manager on the tour, has added a twist to the saga by offering a different version to Gilchrist of what Tendulkar had said.

"During the hearing in front of Mike Procter, the match referee, during the Sydney Test, Tendulkar told him that he had heard some form of abuse,” Sridhar told Cricinfo. “But Procter didn't probe any further and left matters at that. But subsequently in front of Justice Hansen, when both parties were cross-examined by legal counsel, Tendulkar said that he had heard Harbhajan say teri maa ki but clarified that it was an abbreviated form of an abuse."

Sridhar was present at both hearings after the Test, first with the ICC match referee Mike Procter and then with Justice John Hansen.

Gilchrist's contention, as highlighted in the published extract of his upcoming autobiography, True Colours, was that Tendulkar initially said he couldn't hear what Harbhajan said.

Sridhar questioned the timing of Gilchrist’s revelations and said he used the incident merely to get cheap publicity for his book. “It is absurd that he [Gilchrist] is speaking after almost a year after the incident,” he said. “It's just a cheap marketing gimmick to sell the book. Why did he try to go public now because he realised the importance of the moment like the India-Australia series which has gained Ashes-like proportions?"

He said he was surprised at how Symonds, who claimed he was racially abused by Harbhajan with a Hindi word, got away despite admitting that he got into a heated discussion with him. Symonds saw Harbhajan hitting Brett Lee on the backside so he stepped in and “had a bit of a crack at Harbhajan”, telling him exactly what he thought of his antics. Harbhajan was initially banned for three Tests but his punishment was overturned on appeal.

BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said it won’t pursue any action against Gilchrist. “I think it is better to ignore Gilchrist’s comments,” Shukla said. “The only one to lose respect will be him, not Tendulkar.”

Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary at that time, felt Gilchrist "wants to sensationalise the incidents" to sell his book. "Everything was properly handled by the authorities with the appointment of proper men to conduct the hearing after a proper procedure was put in place. After the matter is over, to claim these things in the book is nothing but foolishness.