There is no doubt that the second Australia-India Test played at the SCG was not a high point for the game or relations between these two countries. That being said, the reaction by Indian fans and media has bordered on hysterical.

The amount of anti-Australian vitriol being dished out by disgruntled pundits is insane. On one hand, it is heart warming to see that so many people have so much passion for the game of cricket, but it is very sad to see that there seems to be no degree of perspective being kept on the matter.

The BCCI have now announced that the current tour will be suspended, pending the outcome of Harbhajan’s appeal. It is difficult to understand the message that they are sending. Is it that they won’t accept the umpire’s verdict? Is it that they don’t think Harbhajan should be punished for racism? What will be the outcome if the ICC uphold the suspension? Will they tour be off? So much for the moral high ground and so much for the spirit of the game that they claim is held in such high regard.

There also seems to be a massive amount of revisionist history being applied to a game that only concluded 24 hours ago. There has been claims of bias against the umpires, exaggeration of the number of bad decisions and claims that the Australians somehow played the game differently yesterday and that their approach was markedly different to any other time during the last ten years.

While I firmly believe that Australia really didn’t deserve to win yesterday, claims that the umpires have some kind of deliberate bias is ridiculous. Australia got the benefit of more dubious decisions than India, of that there is no question, but it is offensive to claim that it was part of some preordained plan.

There was no doubt that Andrew Symonds edged the ball and was given a reprieve by Steve Bucknor and while, as a sports fan, it would have been nice to see him walk, he broke no laws by standing his ground, therefore he is not a cheat – end of story. However, the claims that he was clearly stumped later that same innings, as have been made on the site and elsewhere, are fallacy.

From three angles, Symonds appeared to be safe, from a fourth there was a suggestion that his foot was still raised, but the video was insufficient to clearly give him out, therefore Symonds, quite properly, received the benefit of the doubt. The benefit of the doubt always - ALWAYS - goes to the batsman.

The question of the catches too has been used to call the Aussies cheats. Before the series, there was an agreement between the two captains that if players claimed a catch, then their integrity would be relied upon. Video footage could not conclusively prove that the ball had been grassed on any of the occasions, therefore the agreement should stand. Perhaps proponents of more use of technology should see just how often it is completly useless when needed most.

While on the subject of technology, little has been made of the much clearer evidence that Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were beneficiaries of favourable lbw decisions using the impartial, but I think flawed, hawk-eye as the judge. I guess that these don’t support the argument of bias.

The final point is the claims that somehow Australia played the game outside of the spirit. If anyone thinks that Australia faced this game any differently to any of the last 50 Test matches that they have played, they are quite mistaken. Australia always take a hard-edged, ruthless approach to every game that they play. They put their opponents under tremendous mental pressure and this time Harbhajan Singh cracked and resorted to a racist insult. Any claim that verbal taunts are the equivalent of racism are ridiculous and claims that this was part of a conspiracy dreamed up by the Aussies, the umpires and the match referee, are mad.

You don’t win 16 in a row without being merciless and the only difference yesterday was that India had a sniff of saving the game and were unable to do so. The raised level of tension elevated every incident to a new level and the added frustration of poor decisions escalated that disappointment even further.

The final straw in this game was the fact that the Indian batting line-up wilted under pressure. They were required to bat for two sessions, nothing more, and they failed. Maybe some scrutiny of the batsmen is what’s really required, but I guess it’s easier to blame everyone else.