KEY POINTS:
Harbhajan Singh, the central figure in the stand-off between cricket's two superpowers, has always had a prickly relationship with the Australian team.
He has been in plenty of scrapes through his 10-year international career, but none of them approach the magnitude of this current one, involving allegations of
racial abuse against Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds.
Harbhajan, the only son of a Punjabi factory owner, honed his skills as an off-spinner by practising after school in Jalandhar - often when the only light came from the bulb of his father's motor scooter headlamp.
He made his test debut against Mark Taylor's team in the final match of a three-test series in Bangalore 10 years ago.
It was where he had his first run-in with Ricky Ponting, leading to Harbhajan being fined and reprimanded by South African match referee Peter van der Merwe for a breach of the players' code of conduct.
The young Sikh did not take Ponting's wicket in Bangalore - but he did knock over Darren Lehmann, who was also making his test debut.
Lehmann subsequently became the first (and so far only) Australian cricketer to be punished for using racial abuse (against the Sri Lankans in 2003). Lehmann, who admitted his offence - though he could scarcely do otherwise as it was in earshot of dozens of witnesses - is currently president of the Australian Cricketers Association, which is trenchantly backing Ponting in the present dispute.
By the time Harbhajan next crossed swords with Australia on a test field, in the pulsating home series in India in 2001, he was an established international bowler with a growing reputation for feistiness.
The previous year he had been expelled from India's national cricket academy (set up by Australian Rod Marsh) on disciplinary grounds, and later in 2001 he was fined for dissent and attempting to intimidate umpires in South Africa.
It was against Australia, however, that he made his biggest mark, and where he earned his nickname "The Turbanator".
He has a high, whip-like action that imparts a huge amount of work on the ball, which is generally delivered flat and fast, not unlike his great Sri Lankan contemporary Muttiah Muralitharan.
Like Murali, Harbhajan has also had questions asked about the legality of his action, which makes him especially lethal on crumbling surfaces.
The Australians found out just how deadly when he took an astonishing 32 wickets against them in that three-test series in 2001. In the second test in Kolkata, which India won after following-on to end Australia's world record winning streak at 16, he took 13 wickets, including the first test hat-trick by an Indian bowler.
Ponting and Adam Gilchrist were the first two legs of it, both LBW.
Harbhajan's hold over Ponting is quite extraordinary, and while the Australian captain will be affronted by any suggestion that this influenced his decision to report him for racial abuse in Sydney, it provides plenty of fuel for conspiracy-seekers.
Harbhajan has dismissed the world's No 1 batsman eight times in eight tests.
Ponting averages almost 60 in test cricket, but in innings when he falls to Harbhajan, his average, significantly, is below 10.
No bowler has got Ponting out more often than Harbhajan, and the Australian captain also heads the Turbanator's personal list of victims, closely followed by Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden.
All three of them gave evidence against him in Sunday's night's hearing into the Symonds affair before match referee Mike Procter.
Harbhajan is a giant figure among India's current test players.
In 2005 a poll showed him as second only to Sachin Tendulkar among the most recognised and commercially bankable figures.
In 2006 Harbhajan outraged orthodox Sikhs by posing in an advertisement for Royal Stag whisky with his hair tumbling down over his shoulders, against the teachings of his faith.
Effigies were burned in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, and clerics demanded he apologise, which he did.
Harbhajan is a passionate man who enjoys high status in his home country and within his team.
When India's players woke on Monday morning to the news that he had been found guilty of racial abuse, they were indignant.
According to sources close to the team, the players held a meeting in which Harbhajan looked them in the eye and assured them he was innocent.
He has been cleared to resume playing until his appeal against the three-match ban is heard.
"The ICC has a robust process of dealing with Code of Conduct issues," International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed yesterday.
"That process will now run its natural course."
* The ICC last night announced that the Women's World Cup Qualifier event, scheduled to be staged in Lahore, Pakistan from 18-24 February 2008, will now take place in South Africa instead.
The decision was reached after independent security reports and discussions between ICC management and the ICC Women's Committee.
- AGENCIES
