Ponting said no to truce

Indian captain Anil Kumble has revealed that he made a peace offering to his Australian counterpart on the same evening that Ricky Ponting made a complaint to the on-field umpires about Harbhajan Singh’s alleged racist remark, suggesting that the two captains sort the issue out before the hearing, but Ponting turned the offer down.

Kumble’s official confirmation of his request to Ponting in the larger interests of the game came on Wednesday, a little after Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland chose to put a spin on things, saying, “A number of days ago, he (Ponting) made the offer to Kumble for them to get together and talk through any differences and reconcile any differences that might be existing between the two captains and the two teams.”

There has been no such offer from Ponting to date, it has to be emphasised. Kumble, however, had twice requested Ponting that they sit down and clear the air — first when the charge was laid by Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson on Friday last and at Sunday night’s marathon hearing conducted by match referee Mike Procter.
Kumble’s reasoning had centred around the seriousness of the charge and the ramifications it could have on the cricketing world and beyond. Ponting, it is learnt, showed little interest in rapprochement, perhaps mistaking Kumble’s generous apology for an offence that hadn’t been committed by Harbhajan as a sign of weakness and guilt.

Last Wednesday, Kumble told Ponting that if Harbhajan had caused any offence at all, he was willing to apologise on his behalf as captain of the team.

Kumble had also reiterated that the off-spinner hadn’t made a racist remark and that the apology was intended as a conciliatory gesture. Ponting didn’t wish to see reason. At Wednesday’s press conference here, Kumble said that he had tried to convince Ponting of the need to get on.

“I did make a request to Ponting if we can sort it out amongst ourselves. His response was that it had already been reported to the umpires... I anticipated and envisaged that it would spiral into a larger issue,” he said. Perhaps now, the sagacity of India’s 37-year-old skipper will not be lost on Ponting, who has had his intemperate moments, not least during a night-club brawl in Kolkata in 1998. Hopefully, the Tasmanian will be wiser for this experience.

News Source : Samachar