Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh must count himself lucky that he escaped with just a 50 per cent fine of his match-fee.
It is learnt that Harbhajan was told on Monday evening by Shashank and VR Manohar, the son-father duo of the BCCI that he must accept of having abused Andrew Symonds if he was to emerge unscathed from the hearing, conducted by the ICC commissioner Justice John Hansen in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Harbhajan was told that the only way the Code of Conduct Level 3.3 charge of racial abuse against him could be dropped was if he accepted of a minor crime.
He was told in no uncertain terms that he was to own up having abused Andrew Symonds for the punishment to be scaled down to level 2.8 of Code of Conduct.
Still, it would have not come thus far if Sachin Tendulkar was not batting with him at the other end.
It is also learnt that the Indian Cricket Board was not too keen to take up the issue of Harbhajan but the pressure of media back home and the presence of Tendulkar at the other end made them join the issue.
Still, the two parties, Cricket Australia and BCCI were not too sure of how Judge Hansen would react to the evidence and the existing stance.
As a second option, it was decided that in case Judge Hansen was found difficult to negotiate, Cricket Australia would withdraw the charges they had pressed against Harbhajan.
It is also learnt that if Harbhajan had stood his ground and not accepted any guilt, then the evidence could have piled up, if Cricket Australia had so wanted, which would have made his case untenable.