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Indian officials have tried to pull Harbhajan Singh into line by ordering him against talking to the media about his controversial tour of Australia.

The Indian spinner further soured relations between the Australian and Indian teams by calling Matthew Hayden “a liar” and Adam Gilchrist “no saint” after arriving home last week. The parting shot infuriated Cricket Australia, with chief executive James Sutherland calling on the Board of Control for Cricket in India to discipline the outspoken cricketer.

It had followed CA’s reprimand to Hayden for labelling Harbhajan a “little obnoxious weed” a fortnight ago. BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said the man nicknamed “Bhajji” had been ordered to stop talking publicly about the Australian tour.

“Yes, we received a mail from Cricket Australia about Harbhajan Singh,” he was quoted as saying on The Times of India website. “He has been told not to talk to the media on the Australian tour. He has to accept our directive.”

Harbhajan was involved in much of the ill feeling during the summer, being found guilty of racially abusing Andrew Symonds before having the charge downgraded to abusive language on appeal.

He was also involved in disputes with crowds before enjoying the last laugh in India’s 2-0 win in the tri-series final against Australia in Brisbane last week. An International Cricket Council (ICC) spokesman said the governing body was still investigating the matter and checking whether Harbhajan had actually made the comments.

Source:Cricket News