Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh said Matthew Hayden could have made the "obnoxious little weed" remark against Harbhajan Singh inadvertently as the Aussie opener was giving the radio interview in a relaxed atmosphere.
"Often, as a player, radio interviews -- and in particular the more relaxed FM networks -- are where the cliches and sportspeak are abandoned as you inadvertently drift off into the spirit of the interview and blurt out something that you would not normally say in a more controlled environment which often leads to a headline and harsh consequences," Waugh wrote in his column for The Daily Telegraph.
Waugh, however, thought Hayden should have been more careful in his choice of words as the interview was going on air.
"Whether Matthew was caught off guard or was sending out a message to India that the friendly stuff was no longer a priority is debatable, but what is certain is that it was never going to go unnoticed by the authorities," Waugh said.
"Surely players can have an opinion but at the same time it needs to be expressed in an articulate manner which would enable some sort of truce.
"The alternative is to have robotic answers which neither gives an insight nor stimulates debate," he wrote.
Waugh said the Aussies lacked the killer instinct and were "out of sync" after the controversial Sydney Test.
"Australia have been out of sync since the tempestuous Sydney Test match where they felt under siege from all-comers in the wake of the Harbhajan-Symonds confrontation.
"From that moment on they have been searching for the equilibrium that satisfies the critics and stays true to playing cricket "the Aussie way" -- hard, fair and uncompromising," he said.
In the ongoing tri-series, in which India defeated Australia in the first final to go 1-0 up on Sunday, Waugh said the hosts were using their experience to manage wins.
"During this one-day series they have remained largely in the winning column by utilising their experience and seizing the crucial moments, mostly while in the field, but they still have lacked that killer instinct that has categorised Australia's dominance of the past decade," Waugh wrote.
