Former Australian test captain Ian Chappell says the negligent dithering by cricket umpires and officials will see the ill-feeling between Australia and India fester.
Ahead of the third test in Ranchi, beginning tomorrow, Chappell has forecast players will take matters into their own hands in responding to sledging and personalattacks because of the lack of control umpires have had on the series so far.
Chappell said the spite between the two teams in an enthralling test series will continue to deteriorate in the third test with both teams ready to fight fire with fire.
"The administrators are foolish if they're going to allow all this talking to continue on the field," Chappell wrote in a website column.
"If it does, there's going to be trouble. It's been allowed to escalate over the years, and nobody is stepping in to stop it.
"It's going to cause a huge problem one day on the field. It already causes a bit of animosity from time to time, but from the evidence so far this series it will go beyond that at some stage."
Chappell said the problem was already too far advanced to wait for the ICC to intervene, saying it was up to match officials to get on the front foot.
