Former Cricket Board secretary Niranjan Shah hit back at retired Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist by accusing the wicket keeper-batsman of sensationalising the incidents during the ill-tempered Sydney Test against India in his soon-to-be-released autobiography.
“He wants to sensationalise the incidents to sell his book. As everyone knows 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,” said Shah who was the secretary of the BCCI during that period in January.
“It was like a court hearing and the matter was settled properly. Everything was fine. After the matter is over, to claim these things in the book is nothing but foolishness,” he added.
Shah was alluding to the hearing of Harbhajan Singh’s appeal against the decision of ICC match referee Mike Procter who found the Indian off-spinner guilty of racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds. A retired New Zealand judge then heard Harbhajan’s appeal.
In his soon-to-be-released autobiography ‘True Colours’, an extract of which will appear in the magazine ‘Good Weekend’, Gilchrist has hinted that Sachin Tendulkar was a sore loser and questioned his honesty in the “Monkeygate” affair that threatened to go out of hand during India’s tour Down Under.
Terming Tendulkar’s testimony during Harbhajan Singh’s appeal as a “joke”, Gilchrist noted, “The Indians got him (Harbhajan) off the hook when they, of all people, should have been treating the matter of racial vilification with the utmost seriousness.”
