'It leaves sour taste'
Australian media Monday slammed the umpires for their performance in the crucial Sydney Test, urging the skippers to pull their teams into line after bitter rows over racism and sportsmanship.
Tensions boiled over in the aftermath of the hard-fought match between Australia and India, with Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for three Tests for racially abusing Andrew Symonds, while Kumble accused Australia of unsporting behaviour.
The match, which ended Sunday, will be remembered for the bitter disputes rather than Australia's sensational 122-run win courtesy of three wickets in the penultimate over of the final day.
Australia's cricket writers condemned the conduct of the players and the performance of the umpires for tainting what they said was an engrossing contest.
"It is shameful this splendid Test match, won in such a remarkable fashion by the indomitable Australians, has left such a bitter taste," The Australian's cricket columnist Mike Coward wrote.
"The standard of play often was outstanding and occasionally exceptional but the standard of player behaviour was questionable and, at times, unacceptable. And the standard of umpiring was poor.
"Captains Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble will have to demonstrate their strength as leaders to ensure the balance of this series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is played in a decent manner."
Peter Roebuck, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, said: "India have been dudded. No one with the slightest enthusiasm for cricket will take the least satisfaction from the victory secured by the local team in an SCG Test that entertained spectators, provided some excellent batting but left a sour taste.
"It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport."
Former captain Steve Waugh urged the rival captains and coaches to prevent the series spiralling out of control.
"Heading up a slew of hot topics was the Harbhajan-Symonds exchange. That quickly spiralled out of control, with emotions over-riding the need to think clearly and concisely about the ramifications," Waugh wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
"Perhaps a better outcome may have been for both captains, coaches and named players to get together at the end of the day's play and work out a solution before they went past the point of no return -- which now has the potential to affect relations between both countries."
The third Test is scheduled to take place in Perth from January 16-20 and the fourth from January 24-28 in Adelaide.
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