A couple of points about the Times article:
Australians have indeed used sledging as a way to unnerve opponents. So have others. Of course, we copped most of the complaints because...we were winning. It was the constant whining of other nations that pushed the ICC to pass laws against sledging. For one of those nations to now get self righteous because one of its players chose to use a racial epithet is a bit rich.
Darren Lehman's outburst was made inside the Australian dressing room. It was not supposed to be heard by the opposition, so the idea that he was 'aiming the comment' in any way is absurd. Interestingly, his frustration was provoked by...sledging (guess it works). He got punished & should have got more. He immediately apologized. The ACB compelled him to go to counselling. The Australian team didn't deny, make excuses, complain or threaten the ICC. India could take a lesson.
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No one will dare call the British Pom. (British (English, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh combined) people may consider some if not all irreverent terms to be offensive, or in some cases even racist. Though there is often a misunderstanding on the British behalf when called Pommy by an Australian; as 'Pommy' is widely known as 'Prisoners of Her Majesty's Service')!!  
or does it come from "pomme", French for apple. The joke was that the pale British would turn red, like an apple, with sunburn when they landed in Australia.
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Sorry to dissapoint Ray, but neither of those is the origin of 'Pom'. It has been studied by historials of Australian English & it turns out the term comes from rhyming slang for immigrant: immigrant - 'jimmygrant' - 'pommygranite' - 'pommy' - 'pom'.
The term is not inherently abusive & never has been. It certainly does not denote the British as subhuman.
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Hopefully, it will become a gentleman's game that it was!!
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Fine. If you want to achieve that, make it a game for amateurs again. The moment you make the game professional it ceases to be a 'gentlemans game'. The notion that somehow Indians treat the game as such is more than a bit amusing. People only start deploying this sort of phrase when they want to condemn someone else, not because it genuinely describes how their team plays the game.