Harbhajan victim of Australian foul play, feels mother

JALANDHAR: Harbhajan Singh's form with the bat and bowl shook Australia and getting him banned was a successful ploy by Ricky Ponting and his team, believes Avtar Kaur, mother of the Indian off-spinner.
    
"I have talked to Bhajji after the episode and he denied saying anything wrong to Symonds. As his mother, my feeling is that he can't say anything which would amount to racially abusing someone," she said.
    
"It seems that the Australians got frustrated by Bhajji's excellent performance with the ball and the bat. My doubt is it was a conspiracy against him.
    
"They have resorted to all this drama just to keep him out of the next matches," She said.
    
At this hour of crisis, Kaur urged BCCI to help her son in every possible way.
    
"I am receiving several phone calls from relatives, friends and fans of Bhajji, who have expressed solidarity with the family and anguish over the injustice to my son," she said.
    
Kartar Singh, Harbhajan's cousin, was also upset with the ban.
    
"It is very unfortunate that the Match Referee went by whatever the Australians said and banned Bhajji. Surprisingly, Brad Hogg got away despite abusing our players," he said.
    
Harbhajan's sister Sandeep Kaur felt the incident could affect Harbhajan's performance.
    
"Of course it would affect him. If a player goes into the match knowing well that the match officials would be biased, it is bound to affect his performance," she said.