Sydney, Jan. 6: We’ve been familiar with quicks hunting in pairs. Now, and it’s 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.

Set an impossible target (333 in 72 overs), Team India crashed to 210 all out in the second Test. Another 10 minutes, though, and the match would’ve been drawn.

The Indians’ agony, mind you, didn’t end with the dramatic finish at the SCG.

For, after around five hours of an inquiry (which ended close to 2am Sydney time on Monday), Match Referee Mike Procter upheld the Australians’ complaint and banned Harbhajan Singh for three Tests.

The off-spinner, who has become Ricky Ponting’s nemesis, has been found guilty of calling Andrew Symonds a monkey, which isn’t just offensive but regarded as racist.

For now, then, Harbhajan has to live with the label of a “racist”.

The Indians will appeal the ban, but there are no plans to abandon the tour, as is being speculated. “Not true,” insisted manager Chetan Chauhan, when contacted by The Telegraph at the Radisson Plaza.

Getting back to cricket.…

Now, even if Anil Kumble and his men win the last two Tests, the prized Border-Gavaskar Trophy will remain with Australia.

The Australian captain, 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.

Ponting, for his part, maintained he’d taken Mahendra Singh Dhoni cleanly. “The umpire didn’t uphold my appeal, but if you’re questioning my integrity, then you shouldn’t be standing here,” he snapped when a TV journalist sought a clarification.

The Australians’ on-field behaviour encouraged Kumble to hit out at Ponting.

“(Only) one team was playing in the spirit of the game, that’s all I’ll say,” he said in response to his counterpart’s assertion that both played in the ideal spirit.

Decades ago, Kumble-like sentiments had been expressed during the Bodyline Series. That, at least, had been a response to a largely tactical assault.

At the SCG, it was plain thuggery.

As Bucknor and Benson hurt India throughout the Test, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has sought the removal of “incompetent umpires” from the roster for the series.

The one in the immediate line of fire is Bucknor (known to be at his worst against India), who is scheduled to officiate in the next Test, in Perth.

Clearly, the International Cricket Council has some answering to do and there must be transparency over how the Elite Panel umpires are held accountable.

If at all, that is.

The Code of Conduct prohibits captains and players from commenting on the umpiring and, so, Kumble had to be somewhat diplomatic.

“A fair result would’ve been a draw.… The best result would've been a win, but it’s for everybody to see what happened.… It’s a sport and you try and take it sportingly, but it hurts when you lose like this after having had a great chance of winning and levelling the series.…”

Kumble, by the way, played a terrific hand -- with the bat this time. Displaying the traits of a specialist (well, he does have a Test hundred), he remained unbeaten on 45.

Tomorrow’s a fresh day, but it’s to be seen how quickly the Indians recover from the triple hit: blows from the umpires, Procter’s ruling and the Australians’ deplorable conduct.