The Hindu Business Line : Harbhajan banned for rest of IPL, to lose Rs 3 crores

NEW DELHI: Wielding the axe, the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday banned temperamental spinner Harbhajan Singh for the rest of the Twenty20 tournament for slapping S Sreesanth after he pleaded guilty, a punishment that will cost him a whopping Rs th ree crores.

The 27-year-old player, who has a notorious reputation for on-field skirmishes, was handed down the punishment under which he would forfeit match fees from the third match onwards by Match Referee and adjudicator Mr Farokh Engineer after a two-hour heari ng.

Sreesanth, who was at the receiving end of Harbhajan's temper after Friday's IPL match in Mohali, was also warned against aggressive on-field behaviour and told that his conduct would be taken seriously, IPL Commissioner and Chairman Mr Lalit Modi told a press conference after the hearing in the presence of Mr Engineer and the two players.

The punishment for the off-spinner came on a day the BCCI appointed a Commissioner to go into his fracas with Sreesanth in a separate disciplinary hearing ordered by it.

"After looking into the video footage in the presence of Sreesanth, complainant Mr Neil Maxwell (Kings XI Punjab CEO), Harbhajan and Lalchand Rajput, (Mumbai Indians coach), and managers of both sides and considering the submissions from both sides and i n view of Harbhajan's admission Match Referee Mr Farokh Engineer found him guilty of level 4.2 offence.

"Accordingly, he (Harbhajan) has been banned for the rest of the IPL matches besides 100 per cent fine on his match fees," Mr Modi said.

Mr Lalchand Rajput, Manager, Mumbai Indians was fined 50 per cent of the match fee for not stopping the off-spinner's attack on Sreesanth playing for Kings XI Punjab. - PTI

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