BCCI bans Harbhajan for five ODIs

Mumbai, May 14 : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday slapped a five One Day International (ODI) ban on off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for slapping his teammate S Sreesanth.

The board-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati submitted the report.

The Disciplinary Committee of the BCCI, comprising President Sharad Pawar, President-Elect Shashank Manohar, and Vice-President Chirayu Amin, met at the Cricket Centre earlier today and gave the decision.

Harbhajan will miss the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and two matches of the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

Harbhajan had earlier admitted his guilt in the concerned matter. He had also asked the board to be lenient and assured that there would be no misconduct on his part in the future.

The Committee invoked Rule 3.2.1 of the BCCI Regulations for Players, Team officials, Managers, Umpires and Administrators. Under this provision, the maximum punishment that can be meted out to a player is 'a ban up to a maximum of five ODIs and or three Test matches. '

The Committee accordingly decided to ban Harbhajan for five ODIs, starting from today and further observed that any further instance of misconduct would invoke a life-ban.

Harbhajan has already been banned by the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) for 11 matches.

ANI