Melbourne, Mar 8: Australia made the "mistake" of allowing Harbhajan Singh to get under their skin during the just-concluded series, according to renowned columnist Peter Roebuck who blamed captain Ricky Ponting for not checking his side from getting "overheated".

Roebuck said it was hardly surpring that Ponting's leadership was called into question as he was responsible for the team's debacle.

"The Australians allowed Harbhajan to get under their skin. It was a mistake, and the captain was responsible. Ricky Ponting had a poor summer. Admittedly, he was leading a weakened team but his form dipped and he allowed his side to become overheated. No wonder his leadership was called into question", he wrote in the "Sydney Morning Herald'.

He said Australia made their worst mistake long before the ODI finals when they started to play the man and not the ball.

"As might have been predicted, the attempt to isolate and intimidate Harbhajan Singh served merely to strengthen India's resolve".

"Whatever the right and wrongs of the Sydney Test, the Australians lost their equanimity and never recovered. Harbhajan's exchange with Andrew Symonds was brief and of little account. And Symonds had started it. Symonds and Matthew Hayden are about as diplomatic as Sir Les Patterson.

"The rest was madness. Far from breaking their spirit, the attacks on Harbhajan helped the Indians to form the pack mentality that has long been the hallmark of Australian teams. The spinner's refusal to take a backward step was part of that" wrote Roebuck, a former captain of Somerset county.