Australian skipper Ricky Ponting admits that he is unsure how he would react if faced with the situation his Pakistan counterpart Inzamam-Ul-Haq faced at the recent Oval Test match in England.
But he is pretty sure he would not take actions that would put the sport under an unfavourable microscope, with the Pakistan captain facing bans for his part in the Asian side forfeiting the match against England..jpg)
"The way it happened with them (Pakistan) doing it at the tea break, they have obviously gone off and had a really good talk about it at the time," Ponting said.
"I was watching the TV and saw their manager and their coach in the dressing rooms but I don't know what was behind the decision."
"Who knows how I or the Australian cricket team would handle it but you'd like to think that we'd be able to do the right thing by the game and everyone concerned."
However, Ponting is not worried about frayed relationships between Australian cricketers and its Pakistan counterparts in light of Australian umpire Darrell Hair seemingly being at the centre of Pakistan's anger. It was Hair's decision to dock five runs from the side for ball-tampering which led to the revolt.
"Elite umpiring panels are their own little group, we don't see them (Australian umpires) in the Test matches anyway," said Ponting, alluding to the fact that umpires cannot umpire matches involving teams from their country of origin.
"I couldn't see how there would be any feelings from a Pakistani cricketer against an Australian cricketer."
Meanwhile, Shane Warne has backed Hair by refuting claims that he is racist.
Since Hair's controversial decision, the Australian umpire has had to deal with images of Pakistan fans burning effigies of him and being labelled as a 'Mini-Hitler'.
But Warne has scoffed at suggestions that Hair was doing anything other than his job as an international umpire, and stressed his 'disappointment' about what eventuated at The Oval which led to England's victory.
"It is disappointing that for the first time in 129 years there has been a forfeit," Warne said. "You'd like to think that communication lines are in place for any problems people have and you can always go through the match referees."
"What I will say is that I don't think Hair is racist, he just does the best job he can. Hopefully the ICC will handle this case in the right manner and everyone just gets on with it."
