Those Indians sure take their cricket seriously, eh?

Overnight activists in New Delhi were burning effigies of our captain Ricky Ponting and umpire Steve Bucknor after a controversial second test.

Not being much of a cricket fan, I found myself intrigued by the intensity of the small Indian contingent at the SCG on Sunday as they willed their players on to hold onto the second Test and national pride.

For my way of thinking, Test cricket is just far too slow – but the last session of play on Sunday afternoon was one of the most exciting I’ve watched.

But it was more intriguing watching the faces of the Indian supporters than delivery after delivery from our bowlers.

Some Indian supporters were praying, others had everything crossed, and of course there was one guy clapping every time the batsmen managed to survive another delivery.

But after Australia pulled off a remarkable win, the Indian mood obviously soured.

The Indians even threatened to pull out of the tournament, with skipper Anil Kumble making the claim that only one team played the Sydney test in the right spirit.

They obviously weren’t talking about us.

The lengthy hearing for Harbhajan Singh’s alleged racial abuse of Andrew Symonds apparently incensed the Indian team.

Indian team spokesman Dr MV Sridhar also warned the Indians were considering having Australia’s Brad Hogg cited for abusive language on the final day of the Test.

The Indian team was in a poor emotional state after he emerged from the six-and-a-half-hour hearing into Harbhajan’s case.

The Indian spinner was slapped with a three-Test ban after being found guilty of racially abusing Andrew Symonds.

Late yesterday, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) announced it had suspended its tour of Australia pending the outcome of an appeal.

“The Board will appeal to the International Cricket Council to review the decision of the Match Referee and suspend its operation till the appeal is disposed of,” the BCCI said.

I reckon if the Indians are that bitter about the current tour, let them go home - but make sure they pick up the multi-million-dollar bill for refunding tickets to fans of the game.

Sridhar denied that Harbhajan had called Symonds a monkey. But as we know, he’s no stranger to a bit of name calling.

The bad blood bubbled to the surface in Australia’s tour of India last October when he described Ricky Ponting’s men as "vulgar" and "arrogant".

There are some even within Australian media circles today calling for Ponting to be sacked because he was too cocky. How ridiculous.

The Indians have just got a taste of their own curry returned a few times - if they think it's too hot in the kitchen, they should get out.

I don’t know about you, but “vulgar” is not a word that comes to mind when I see Ricky Ponting.

You have to wonder whether the huge pressure Indian supporters put on their cricketers leads to such spats.

While international cricket is serious business, it is still a game, after all.

And while the Indians could certainly point to a few dubious decisions of the umpires over the past five days, calling for them to be replaced by someone “competent” is a tad over-the-top.

Cricket umpires, as colleague Paul Munnings pointed out yesterday, have the toughest of jobs.

While we all have the luxury of sitting back in our armchairs and watching replay after replay before saying “That was obviously not out!”, out in the middle you get a split second to make a decision – and sometimes you’re going to be wrong.

For the Indians to suggest that there is anything untoward, well it’s just not in the spirit of the game is it?

It’s a blog eat blog world

Speaking of spats, the blog traffic on thedaily.com.au shows we’re all in for a very interesting time on the election front in the lead-up to the elections in March.

Those who have become regulars on the Daily’s site will know that local councillor Tom Hulett is a regular blogger – and one who certainly attracts plenty of barbed comments.

While some must wonder why he continues to blog, and the fact that he seems to be working at all hours on responses, at least he bothers to engage with locals online.

I wonder when some of our other councillors are going to join the 21st century and use the internet to float ideas, test public opinion and just listen to what others have to say.

I reckon it would be a whole lot cheaper than hiring consultants to do “community consultation” on major issues.

Why not float them out in cyberspace and see what sort of reaction there is?

While our bloggers may not be indicative of what everyone thinks, I’m sure the results will be more on the money than a lot of surveys I’ve seen undertaken.

There are so many issues that, as a region, we need to debate.

How big a population do we think we can sustain? What are we going to do to tackle the housing affordability crisis engulfing us?

What sort of public transport system do we really need to ensure people actually use it?

How can we improve road and rail planning so that property owners have a better idea of when a rail line might be coming through their neighbourhood?

If Queensland really is the smart state, we should start getting a little smarter with our communication and genuinely informing and consulting our communities.