CANBERRA, Jan 9: India captain Anil Kumble said he tried to persuade Australian counterpart Ricky Ponting not to proceed with a formal charge against Harbhajan Singh over an alleged racist jibe.

Kumble told reporters he had approached Ponting during the second Test and asked that the matter be resolved between the two teams because he feared it would develop into a diplomatic incident.

The Indian skipper said Ponting told him it was too late because he had already reported it to the on-field umpires.

“When that incident happened I did make a request to Ricky Ponting that it should be handled, if it can be sorted out, whatever,” Kumble told reporters on Wednesday.

“His response was that it had already been reported. Having played cricket for this long, (I knew) such an allegation would definitely spiral into what it has now. I anticipated that it would spiral into a larger issue.”

Ponting said he had been under instructions from the ICC to report any racial incidents after there were problems with the crowd on Australia’s tour of India last year.

Harbhajan was found guilty by match referee Mike Procter of calling Andrew Symonds a monkey and was suspended for three Tests.

The Indian spinner has denied the charges and lodged an appeal but the incident almost forced the abandonment of the tour.

The Indian cricket board suspended the tour and demanded the ICC drop the charges. They only agreed to continue playing after the ICC made a number of concessions.

They included the sacking of West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor and allowing Harbhajan to play until his appeal had been heard.

“There is an appeal that has been made so we are hopeful we get the right decision,” Kumble said. “From what I gather from my two team-mates from the Indian side who were on the field, that remark was never made.

“People believe that a word was said, which was not said.”

Kumble added: “The entire team is together on this and has really backed him. I am really proud of that fact and I’d like to thank the BCCI for fully backing us.”—Reuters