The Indian media have reacted with fury after spinner Harbhajan Singh was suspended for three Tests after being found guilty of racially abusing Andrew Symonds during the second Test match.

Harbhajan has denied the claims - that he called the all-rounder a "monkey" - and India have halted their tour of Australia with two matches of the four-Test series still to play while they appeal against the suspension.

Newspapers in India have been quick to go on the offensive, accusing Australia of double standards over the matter.

The Hindustan Times quotes an unnamed senior India player as saying the Australia team "cheats and lies quite blatantly".

"We have been treated unfairly by the umpires, cheated of a favourable result in the match, are playing a team that cheats and lies quite blatantly, even while pretending to uphold the spirit of the game," he said.

"The worst of it is, they get away with everything, every dirty tactic, every dubious call. On top of it, there’s this [the Harbhajan controversy]. How are we supposed to feel, and in what mode does anyone expect us to play?” He said the team was “thoroughly demoralised”, “traumatised” and "completely shaken".

Avtar Kaur, Harbhajan's mother, told the paper that her son is innocent. “Kaur said if anything was wrong then both the players - Singh and Symonds - should be punished,” the paper reported.

The Hindu newspaper goes on to accuse Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson, the Test umpires at Sydney, of “gross injustice” after committing a number of errors throughout the match.

“When five intense days of cricket leave a disagreeably bitter aftertaste, there has to be something amiss,” it says. “In the case of the second Test, here at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the fault lay with the umpires.”

The Telegraph of Calcutta added: “We've been familiar with [fast bowlers] hunting in pairs. Now, and its quite chilling, even umpires are in that business. Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, Andy Roberts and Michael Holding, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis ... add to that Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson.”

The Telegraph also argued Australia's record-equalling 16th consecutive Test win was “soiled” by the players' behaviour during the game.

“The Australian captain, [Ricky] Ponting, doesn't have blood on his hands, but they are truly soiled. Indeed, the umpiring and the conduct of some Australians took just about all the sheen off the world record-equalling 16 consecutive Test wins.”

“While Ponting himself claimed a catch which didn't look to have been taken cleanly, captain-in-waiting Michael Clarke actually caught Sourav Ganguly on the half-volley but claimed otherwise.”

The India Times claimed Australian fans are guilty of double standards, claiming that Indian spectators were racially abused by home supporters during the game.

“The Australians are going berserk about Harbhajan Singh's alleged racial tirade at Andrew Symonds but have chosen to turn a blind eye to similar complaints by Indian fans at the Sydney Cricket Ground here,” it said.

“The Indians, outnumbered by local fans anyway, are having to deal with local rogues having a go at them in the ongoing second Test here in which the tempers are already running high after the infamous race row involving Harbhajan and Symonds.”

The New India Express, leading with the headline 'Black Sunday for Indian cricket', said the fifth and final day of the Test was "sullied by some horrendous umpiring decisions and as has been the case so far, Australia had no reason to complain while India found themselves at the receiving end of the goof-ups".

The Hindustan Times added: “For what happened over this Test and this final day was not a good advertisement for the world champions, those who run the game or the game itself. It was just not cricket.

“Many people were in tears by the end. Others were furious. All across the ground and outside, there was a sense of disbelief and shock, a feeling of injustice having being done to India.

“There was just no way you could have been impartial. You wanted India to win so badly not because you were Indian, but because they had been cheated of a chance of a draw and a shot at keeping this series alive. As simple as that.”

Meanmwhile, The Sahara Samay pointed out “it was an Australian who was first banned for racial abuse”, recalling Australian batsman Darren Lehmann's suspension over a racial remark against a visiting Sri Lankan team in 2003.

“Racism in cricket has been a problem in the past and it was an Australian player who was first banned in the history of cricket for racial abuse,” it said.

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