India pacer S Sreesanth is haunting Australia even when he is warming the bench and a furious Ricky Ponting has labelled fresh charges of sledging against the pacer during the fourth one-day international in Chandigarh.
Even though Sreesanth was not part of the playing eleven in Chandigarh on Monday, his alleged taunting from the boundary line has irked the Australians.
Captain Ponting claimed Sreesanth had passed remarks and taunted five batsmen as they stepped in and out of the dressing room and wondered how he escaped punishment from match referee for such acts of indiscipline.
Sreesanth reportedly clapped his hands in Andrew Symonds' face as the all-rounder was leaving the field and said, "Australia would lose".
"It happened probably four or five times the other day when we lost wickets; him running past somebody coming off the ground. But what can you do about it if the authorities aren't going to do anything about it?"
"It was disappointing to see that happening the other day. He [Sreesanth] chirped me out to bat as well. I snapped my head back around," Ponting was quoted as saying in Australian newspaper Herald Sun on Thursday.
"I got a chance to ask him about it and got him one-on-one when he ran a drink out later. He said he was talking to someone else. It was someone who is not playing the game, so you don't even get a chance to get revenge on them" he said.
The Australian skipper is furious that the Indian seamer has not been punished.
Match referee Chris Broad said he is unaware of any incidents involving Sreesanth and action would not be taken, the daily reported.
"Nothing seems to be happening about it," Ponting said.
Ponting even warned Sreesanth to mend his ways or be prepared to face the Australian response in the upcoming return Test and one-day series.
"He is doing it for a response, but when our guys get our backs up, that is when our best cricket comes out."
"We have got a few months of cricket coming up against [them]. If he gets picked he will be a big part of that," he said.
The Kerala seamer came for some harsh words from former Australian captain Ian Chappell as well.
Chappell slated him as a "slow learner who risks sinking in a sea of fines."
"Sreesanth has been pinged a few times and he could well finish his career with a bank balance that's exactly the same as when he started his career, if he keeps going the way he is," Chappell said.
The seven match one-day series started on a ill-tempered note as both sides had exchanged words on the field in the Kochi match following which both the captains were called by match referee and asked to restrain their players.
