Harbhajan denies allegations of racial taunts; slams Aussie fans

Brisbane, Mar 4 (UNI) Denying allegations of racial taunts levelled against him during the first of the best-of-three CB Series finals in Sydney, Harbhajan Singh slammed the Australian spectators saying their behaviour ''was despicable''.

''Trust me, I didn't say anything to the crowd, but the language they said to me was despicable,'' Harbhajan said. ''It crossed all limits of decency.'' ''I had smoke coming out of my ears,'' he added.

The off-spinner claimed he had only spat at the ground after having a drink of water during his spell that claimed the wickets of Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds.

''If you have water on the boundary, and saliva in your mouth, what else are you supposed to do but spit it out?'' he queried.

But Harbhajan was less clear when asked about his alleged monkey chants towards the crowd.

''I don't remember what I was doing,'' he said.

Witnesses, however, gave a clean chit to the 27-year-old spinner saying he was only retaliating to heavy crowd abuse during the Australian innings.

Spectator Darren Jones said Harbhajan had been within his rights because ''he was copping so much'' from the crowd.

''We were giving it to him, and he was giving it back,'' Jones said. ''He did spit towards the crowd quite a number of times, but I reckon that's OK because he was copping so much.'' Harbhajan has been involved in several controversies during India's ongoing tour Down Under including the spat with Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the Sydney Test.

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