Harbhajan Singh has been provisionally suspended from the Indian Premier League(IPL) pending his explanation for slapping his Indian teammate and member of Kings XI Punjab, S Sreesanth, in Mohali on Friday. Bhajji has been issued a show-cause notice by the BCCI to explain his actions till Monday, but due to media and public outrage, has been provisionally suspended from the IPL. Harbhajan will appear before the disciplinary committee on Monday, which will be headed by Farokh Engineer, who was the match referee in the clash between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab when the incident took place.

 

It is to be noted that after Kings XI Punjab won their match against Mumbai Indians in Mohali on Friday, April 25, 2008, Bhajji slapped Sreesanth who immediately broke into tears. He was consoled by his teammates and the owner of the Punjab team, Priety Zinta. Yuvraj Singh, the captain of the Punjab team called the incident as ‘ugly’ and unacceptable’. However, he later told that Bhajji went in the dressing room to apologize to Sreesanth. Sreesanth later told that Harbhajan is like a big brother and he will not lodge any complaint against him.

 

Meanwhile, IPL Chairman, Lalit Modi announced Harbhajan’s suspension saying that judging from the videos of the tapes provided by Sony and TWI, a decision to suspend Harbhajan Singh has been reached with immediate effect. The final verdict will come from match referee Farokh Engineer on April 28, 2008. Physical assault on any player constitutes level 4 offence of the ICC Code of Conduct and can lead to a life ban or a minimum ban of 5 tests or 10 ODIs.