SYDNEY - Australia batsman Matthew Hayden has launched a verbal attack on India's cricketers, describing Harbhajan Singh as an "obnoxious weed" and challenging Ishant Sharma to a fight.

SYDNEY - Australia batsman Matthew Hayden has launched a verbal attack on India's cricketers, describing Harbhajan Singh as an "obnoxious weed" and challenging Ishant Sharma to a fight.

Hayden said the Australian players were fed up with the constant complaints from the Indians about their on-field behaviour during a spiteful tour Down Under.

Three Indian players, including Harbhajan and Sharma, have been found guilty of breaching the players code of conduct but the tourists have accused the Australians of provoking them.

Hayden said his dispute with Harbhajan had been running for years but the reason the Indians were complaining so much on this tour was because "they are losing every game they are playing".

"It's been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan. The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now," Hayden told a Brisbane radio station.

"His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time.

"That's why he has been charged more than anyone that's ever played in the history of cricket." - Reuters