No issue still about Symonds-Sharma fracas, says Dhoni

Sydney, Feb 24: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni preferred to be tight-lipped on the heated exchange of words between paceman Ishant Sharma and Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds at the SCG today.

Symonds (59) had fired up in final overs, smashing sixes, was foxed by Sharma`s slower delivery and was clean bowled. But Symonds did not leave the ground before exchanging some heated words with the Indian paceman following which the umpires asked the visiting team`s player to show restraint.

Umpire Daryl Harper was seen having a word with Dhoni and his men but the Indian captain said there was no issue about it still.

"So far nothing has happened. We haven`t been called by the match-referee. So I think there is no issue to it," said Dhoni after India lost by 18 runs.

But Australian skipper Ricky Ponting claimed that Sharma started it and Symonds behaved in retaliation.

"These are minor issues and happen on the field all the time. But Symonds said so in response and he did not provoke it," Ponting said.

"Maybe, there is something in the Sydney water," he added, relating it to the racial slur charge against Harbhajan which came about at the same venue during the preceding Test series and nearly caused the tour to be abandoned by the Indian Cricket Board.

There was another official intervention when the Australian team management complaint that the gloves Dhoni was wearing, with the one he caught Adam Gilchrist down the legside, had a bigger cusp, probably to help him get a bigger span to catch a chance.

Ponting said Dhoni had done it throughout the series.

"He seemed to change the gloves when he is standing back from when he is standing up to the wicket. He has done it although this series. So I didn`t think it was any different," he said.

Dhoni, however, chose to evade the issue about changing his gloves in the middle of Australian innings after an official intervention.

"I didn`t want to raise a controversy. I was asked to change the gloves and I did it," he said.

Ponting also expressed surprise at the kind of noisy support which the Indian team managed in the middle.

"Yes, it was surprising. For a moment, I wasn`t sure if I was in Sydney or in Mumbai. They were making a lot of noise when the Indians were doing well. Our supporters, in contrast, wasn`t as loud," said Ponting jokingly.

Bureau Report