Harbhajan snapped making monkey gestures: Australian media

MELBOURNE: Harbhajan Singh has reportedly made monkey gestures towards the Sydney Cricket Ground  (SCG) crowd after India's victory in the first tri-series final Sunday. This could invite fresh trouble for the controversial off-spinner, according to a media report.

"The controversial Indian spinner apparently motioned as if to scratch his armpits with both hands in the same manner fans did to taunt Andrew Symonds in India last year," a report in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' said.

The newspaper claimed that it had snapped Harbhajan while he was repeating the gesture with one hand later.

Under the International Cricket Council's code of conduct, if Harbhajan is accused of making a racist gesture he would be charged under section 3.3 - the same section under which he was cited during January's Sydney Test when Symonds accused him of passing racist comments.

One spectator sitting in the Bill O'Reilly stand, Craig Woodbury, said Harbhajan also spat towards the crowd after they called him "a wanker".

"He definitely made the monkey gestures and he spat towards us. It was a bit disgraceful really, especially after what happened here in the Test match (with Symonds)," Woodbury was quoted as saying in the report.

India's team manager, Bimal Soni, though denied Harbhajan made the gestures.

"The crowd was harassing him, he has not done anything," Soni said.