(adds Indian cricket board reaction)
SYDNEY, Feb 27 - Australia batsman Matthew Hayden
has launched a verbal attack on India's cricketers, describing
Harbhajan Singh as an "obnoxious weed" and challenging Ishant
Sharma to a fight.
Hayden said the Australian players were fed up with the
constant complaints from the Indians about their on-field
behaviour during a spiteful tour Down Under.
Three Indian players, including Harbhajan and Sharma, have
been found guilty of breaching the player's code of conduct but
the tourists have accused the Australians of provoking them.
Hayden said his dispute with Harbhajan had been running for
years but the reason the Indians were complaining so much on
this tour was because "they are losing every game they are
playing".
"It's been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan. The first
time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that
he is now," Hayden told a Brisbane radio station.
"His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is a
certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where
you push it and he just pushes it all the time.
"That's why he has been charged more than anyone that's
ever played in the history of cricket."
Hayden also had some advice for teenage fast bowler Sharma,
who was fined 15 percent of his match fee after an ugly
exchange with Andrew Symonds at the Sydney Cricket Ground on
Sunday.
"He is just young. I have said to him many times, 'You are
19, take it easy'," Hayden said.
"He is 19, why doesn't he just worry about his bowling for
a while?
"I like the idea of actually getting into the ring. I like
that, let's bring that one."
INDIAN COMPLAINT
The Indian cricket board were less than impressed with
Hayden's remarks and immediately protested to Cricket Australia
(CA).
"We condemn such comments by the Australian players,"
Indian board's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty
told Reuters.
"Our secretary has already communicated our feelings to
Cricket Australia.
"We've advised our players to show restraint, but despite
that if such comments are being made it is really unfair.
"CA have said they will look into this and let us hope
there is some communication on this."
The Indian team manager Bimal Soni told reporters in Sydney
that the players did not want to publicly respond to Hayden's
comments.
"We want to play cricket... with what Hayden said, our
stance is vindicated," Soni said.
"This sort of thing should not happen but we've decided to
take it in our stride and want to get on with preparing for the
finals."
Hayden's sentiments were echoed by former fast bowler
Rodney Hogg who said he was also tired of India's complaints
and thinly-veiled threats to boycott matches.
"I've really had a gutful of their whingeing. This is
international sport, obviously people are going to say things
to try to unsettle you," Hogg told the Courier-Mail.
"It's not tiddlywinks. So long as it's not racial they
shouldn't have a problem. As far as I am concerned if the heat
is too hot in the kitchen then that's too bad."
(Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by N.Ananthanarayanan and
John O'Brien)