Brett Lee insists the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series won’t be a repeat of this year’s controversial ‘Bollyline’ tour, as India’s Harbhajan Singh promised to cut out the “bad boy crap” that has dogged his career.
Aggressive off-spinner Harbhajan was one of the main provocateurs of India’s tour of Australia at the start of the year, being accused of racial vilification by Australia’s Andrew Symonds.
That allegation and the subsequent stand-off caused a storm in both countries, before Harbhajan added fuel to the fire with an off-field slanging match against Matthew Hayden.
But the spinner now wants to put his past behind him, telling the Hindustan Times he is tired of his “bad boy” reputation.
“I’m sick of all the bad boy crap,” he said.
“I have no interest in hearing about how controversies follow me wherever I go. I’m going to stay away from all that shit and concentrate on not getting involved in any kind of crap.
“And this is how it will be, not just in my cricketing life but also in life generally. For too long, what I’ve said or done has been the focal point of things rather than my cricket.”
Lee also says this series will be tamer, and not just because Symonds will miss the tour due to disciplinary reasons.
The fast bowler praised the Indian Premier League competition – where Australians and other internationals played alongside Indian stars in a multi-million-dollar Twenty20 tournament – for helping international cricket relations.
“The fact we have mixed with different players with IPL franchises, providing Australian players [the chance] to experience different cultures, has definitely helped world cricket,” Lee told reporters in Jaipur.
“It’s going to be an exciting series and we hope it’s all about the cricket. The stuff that has happened previously, that is all done and dusted.”
