India to continue tour of Australia
8th January, 2008
India will resume their Australian tour after Singh’s suspension for racist comments, allegedly made to Andrew Symmonds in the second test in Sydney. They may still abandon it if an appeal against the ban fails.
The tourists had put the tour on hold after the three match suspension was handed out. India were angered with umpire Steve Bucknor’s decisions in Sydney, and he has now been replaced by Billy Bowden for the next test.
The next game is a warm up match in Canberra on Thursday, ahead of the third test.
Ponting told The Australian: "Over the past two years match referees have made it clear at the start of every series that it is the captain's responsibility to immediately report any form of racism from either the crowd or on the field.”
"When I heard what had taken place with Andrew, I immediately informed the umpires and then left the field at the end of the over to inform our team manager, which is what we are instructed to do.”
"Making this report is not something I wanted to do but something I had to do. I had nothing to gain personally from taking this action. I was doing the right thing by the game."
The test series is all but over, with Australia’s odds of winning reaching up to 1/500, and the draw available at 33/1, according to our odds comparison service.
