So it’s come to this. The relationship between two formerly friendly cricket nations has broken down, jeopardising a Test series. Claims of racist abuse are being met with claims of poor sportsmanship. Players are being left on buses while the power brokers meet. And now the highest cricketing authority is locked in disagreement with the game’s operators.

How did we get here? There were the atrocious umpiring decisions that cost the Indians the Sydney Test. There was Harbhajan Singh’s ill-considered “monkey” comment to Andrew Symonds. There was Australia’s unseemly triumphalism. And there’s the three match ban meted out to Singh as punishment for his supposedly racist sledge.

But that’s not what this dispute is about. The Australians’ arrogance and ruthlessness has finally caught up with them. It was on full display following the Sydney Test, with Ricky Ponting leading from the front. When questioned in a post-match press conference by an Indian journalist about a catch he claimed, Ponting replied: “If you are actually questioning my integrity in the game then you shouldn’t be standing here.” So untouchable is the Australian captain, at least in his own mind, that journalists are forbidden from asking him questions. If they do, the offence is so great that they should do their job elsewhere.

A second example came yesterday. “It’s disappointing and they are entitled to their opinion but if you look back at the game I really can’t see how we have done anything wrong by the spirit of the game,” Ponting said. The Australian captain is either wilfully naïve or has failed to pick up on the social cues offered by the cricketing world. Can he and Cricket Australia really be that blind to how they are seen within the game? Or is admitting fault simply unthinkable?

Let’s be honest. With their ruthlessness and win-at-all costs attitude, with their front-running flamboyance and puffy-chested arrogance, Ponting and his men have been piling timber onto a pyre of international discontent for years. In the end, all it took to ignite it was a few bad umpiring decisions, an ill-considered comment from an opponent and another dose of grandiose glorying in the miseries of the vanquished.

Are we really surprised? And do we believe Ponting when he says he “can’t see how we have done anything wrong by the spirit of the game”?

There’s no doubt that Australia’s ultra-competitiveness has delivered unparalleled success over the last decade. It’s a trait commonly found in individuals and teams that dominate their sport. Maybe if England, the West Indies and South Africa were to make ruthlessness a feature of their own practice, Australia might find itself challenged more often. But that extended period of dominance has bred a sense of entitlement in the Australians, a sense that they can play the game on their terms, with no regard for the opposition or for cricketing traditions that might appear quaint and outdated in an age of win-at-all-costs professional sport. Ricky Ponting, whose cricketing value system was molded during his team’s decade of dominance, certainly thinks many of those traditions no longer apply.

At another level, this is also a stand-off between the International Cricket Council (ICC), the game’s highest authority, and India, which is responsible for 70% of the game’s revenue. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has now given the ICC an ultimatum. Overturn the three match ban given to Singh and remove umpire Steve Bucknor from the Perth Test or our team will be coming home.

It’s hard to underplay the significance of the move. A resolution requires one side to back down. Will the ban on Singh be lifted? Unlikely, lest it give tacit approval to racist comments and the ICC be seen to bow to the Indians’ will. An ICC backdown could deal a near mortal blow to its authority. Conspiracy theorists might suggest that’s India’s intention. Or will India back down, and play the next Test without Singh, with Bucknor officiating, despite making such a bold demands? What cost to Indian pride?

Whatever the solution, we’re about to learn something about how cricket will be played and administered into the future. We’re about to learn who wears the creams.