Kumble wanted to resolve row in private

Speaking for the first time since the incident Kumble admitted he had approached the Australia skipper following the third day's play and urged him to not press the charge of racism against Harbhajan but instead deal with the matter privately.

"I did make a request when that incident happened on that particular day to Ricky Ponting, that the matter could be sorted out between us," said Kumble. "But it went up to the match referee and his response was there had already been a report."

Harbhajan had initially been banned for three Tests after he was found to have called Australia's Andrew Symonds "a monkey" by match referee Mike Procter during an ill-tempered second Test in Sydney last week.

India have since threatened to pull out of their current tour of Australia if spinner Harbhajan is not cleared of racial abuse on appeal and the future of the tour still hangs in the balance.

"Having played cricket for this long, I knew such an allegation would definitely spiral into what it has now," Kumble said. "I anticipated that, and I sensed that it would spiral into a longer issue."

Kumble also admitted the pressure had been weighing on the shoulders of the players and thanked the Board of Control for Cricket in India for their support since the affair began.

The 37-year-old also reiterated the belief in the squad that Harbhajan is innocent of making the remarks to Symonds.

"It's been tough, it's been very difficult," Kumble added. "It is a very difficult issue but we are a tight team, we've stuck together and I'd like to thank the board for backing us up.

"It was (alleged to be) a racist remark and from what I gather from my team-mates, that remark was never made. He didn't say anything, he didn't use the word supposedly used."