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SYDNEY - Two days after their scheduled departure, the Indian cricket team checked out of their Sydney hotel today and headed for Canberra as their troubled tour finally got back under way.
Blighted by racism and umpiring rows, the tour will continue after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gave their team the go-ahead overnight to head to Canberra for tomorrow's match against an ACT XI.
A team spokesman was slated to address the media this morning but it failed to materialise, with former skipper Sourav Ganguly saying only "we're not allowed to comment" as he put his bags on the team bus.
Originally scheduled to depart Sydney on Monday, the team spent two more days in the city before the International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday replaced umpire Steve Bucknor with New Zealand's Billy Bowden and paved the way for Harbhajan Singh to play next week's third test in Perth.
Harbhajan is appealing a three-test suspension for racial abuse against Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds.
There was one final drama as the team left, with the bus sideswiping a parked silver Mercedes sedan as it tried to make a tight turn while avoiding the throng of media and supporters.
ICC chief Malcolm Speed said today the decision to remove Bucknor, who came under fire for a series of mistakes in the second test in Sydney, was designed to avoid an "international crisis".
"We could have gone in banging the table and playing `who blinks first', we could have turned what is already an international incident into an international crisis," Speed told the Nine Network.
"What we have elected to do, and we've given some serious thought about this, is to take one of the issues out of play.
"There was unhappiness about the umpiring, we put a new umpiring team in place, and we start again from the umpiring perspective in Perth and hopefully focus on the matters on the pitch rather than exacerbating the crisis."
ICC chief referee Ranjan Madugalle will hold talks with Australian captain Ricky Ponting and rival Anil Kumble in Perth next week in an attempt to clear the air ahead of the third Test.
Australian spinner Brad Hogg will also answer a charge of abusive language prior to the Perth match for allegedly calling Kumble a "bastard" during the SCG test.
While the tension has been cooled for the time being, the situation is still far from resolved.
Speed said yesterday Harbhajan's appeal will only involve a review of the evidence already tabled and if it is decided to uphold his three-match ban, the tour could again be under threat.
- AAP
