Cricket stars aim to soothe India angst

Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee are likely to do more to repair goodwill for Australia's education industry in India than an army of politicians, but there are worries the one-day cricket tour under way in India is also a potential flashpoint.

Indeed, some believe the virulence of the Indian media's coverage of the recent assaults of Indian students was partly payback for the furore over allegations Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh had racially abused all-rounder Andrew Symonds at the Sydney Test in January last year. Symonds had been the target of monkey chants during the previous tour in India a few months before he accused Harbhajan of repeating the taunt in Sydney.

"We just can't do with any more bad news overthere," said Peter Hodgson, an Australian Laureate Fellowship scientist who spent the past three years setting up Deakin University's Deakin India Research Initiative.

Professor Hodgson believed India's media leapt on the reports of assaults against Indian students partly to "even up" with the Australian coverage of the Harbhajan-Symonds affair, in which the charges against Harbhajan were eventually downgraded to "seriously insulting" abuse.

Professor Hodgson said the average Indian would take more notice of Australia's cricket team than its politicians, and it was important the team capitalised on the admiration Indians have for them.

"I think they (Indians) want to see more of the Australian character, getting out there and shaking hands and meeting people," he said.

Neville Roach, emeritus chairman of the Australian India Business Council and an Indian expat, said most Indians' image of Australians was framed by cricket.

"We don't need another incident to occur, that would just set us back," he said.

He said the players would do well to be a bit more cautious about bad behaviour. Mr Roach said he'd like to see cricket authorities in both countries do more to crack down on abuse and sledging, given the potential for on-field disputes to spill over into wider society.

But the trademark Australian aggression is what the Indian crowds are likely to want to see. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said this week he admired the "no prisoners" approach of the Australians.

The risk of a flare-up is also mitigated by Symonds not being in the touring party.

Cricket is the single biggest bridge builder between Australia and India. The Victorian police have used cricket matches to build relations with the Indian student community, and when a group of Indian journalists visited Monash University in August the university treated them to a net session with former Test player Graham Yallop.

The University of Wollongong uses former cricket international Adam Gilchrist to promote itself in India, while Deakin uses Brett Lee.

Swinburne University of Technology's pro vice-chancellor (international) Jeffrey Smart has just returned from a trip to India and believes that while demand next year will dip, it will only be temporary.