PTI

Melbourne, Oct 26: Australian fast bowler Brett Lee has defended the behaviour of Indian crowds as well as cricketers like pacer S Sreesanth during the recent One-day series, saying they were all well-behaved and under control.

"Personally, I actually like the controlled aggression. We know that through world cricket that we have a line in the sand that we can't overstep. If you overstep that line, well then you get penalised for it. It's all about passion. It's all about playing for your country," Lee said.

Indians might have locked horns with all rounder Andrew Symonds in a series of confrontations but Lee said the on-field verbal duels were in right spirit.

"The way that India have come back and fought really hard and given a bit of a mental barrage and also a bit of a verbal barrage, and they've been saying it in the right way... it hasn't been a problem," he was quoted as saying by The Age.

Australia won the One-day series 4-2 but the tournament was marred by racial abuse and monkey taunts hurled at their Symonds by the Indian crowds.

But Lee said Indian crowds simply loved their cricket and a few isolated incidents had generated misleading headlines.

"Without being too controversial, you've got to realise there's two or three people in the crowd out of 90 to 100,000 people. I mean if you do the odds, the crowd was so well-behaved. It's the same here in Australia. The crowds here are brilliant and I'm sure they're looking forward to some great cricket," he said.

Former Test player Darren Lehmann also backed Australian crowd. "I think our crowds will be really well-behaved. They'll applaud good cricket and back their team as they always do. Our crowds have been pretty vocal but that's no different to anywhere else you go around the world."