SYDNEY, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- India's cricket tour of Australia will not be cut short as previously feared due to a racism controversy, it was reported Tuesday.
The Indian cricket board informed its counterpart in Australia the rest of tour would go ahead, the Press Trust of India reported quoting team sources.
The Indians, incensed over a finding of racial abuse against its star spinner Harbhajan Singh and by their claims of shoddy umpiring in the second test at Sydney which the team lost, had suspended the tour with a possibility of canceling it.
But the cricket board apparently changed its stand after the International Cricket Council reversed its earlier decision and replaced the controversial umpire Steve Bucknor with another for the third test match, the report said.
As for Singh, the BBC reported he has now been cleared to play until an appeal against his three-match suspension is heard. On Sunday, he was found guilty by match referee Mike Procter of allegedly calling Andrew Symonds, the only non-white player on the Australian team, a "monkey," a charge strenuously denied by the Indians.
The next engagement for the visiting Indian team is Thursday in Canberra. Until the latest developments, the Indian team had refused to leave its Sydney hotel.
The Indians planned to continue with their counter-complaint against Australia's left-arm spinner Brad Hogg for allegedly using abusive language.
