Harbhajan and Sree downplay the event fearing Punishment!

After the slapgate incident between Harbhajan and Sreesanth, match referee Farooq Engineer was asked to conduct the enquiry. Before that, both Harabhajan and Sreesanth downplayed the incident as if nothing had happened between them.

Sreesanth said:

Bhajji and him are like brothers; He is an elder brother and I have forgiven him;
He has the right to do what he did;
It was just a handshake in the wrong side
He need not apologize

Bhajji said:

He is like a brother;
He did not slap him;
They both will play together;
He spoke to Sreesanth after the match;
He is not sure about the complaint to be lodged by Kings XI Punjab!

After the scene and hype created by both the players and media, both of them were saying, everything is okay and nothing wrong happened. Looks like both of them fear about the action that would be taken against each of them. Something should have provoked Bhajji and hence both would be punished. Is that reason for going back on the statements?

Only official enquiry can reveal what has happened!

Harbhajan Suspended for until Hearing!

A BCCI press release has just landed: "Based on prima facie video evidence as seen and reviewed by the match adjudicator and referee Mr. Farokh Engineer from the tapes provided by Sony & TWI. A decision has been reached to suspend with immediate effect Mr. Harbhajan Singh of the Mumbai Indians pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, April 28th 2008"

After the match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, the televsion camera captured the live pictures of Sreesanth crying uncontrollably. He was bursting tears from emotion and Kings XI Punjba team members helped him to calm down. No one knew what had happened, but later the news channels flashed the news saying "Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth"

Both the players denied the incident during a quick invidiual interview. They both said they are brothers and a full stop can be put to the incident. Sreesanth does not want to complain, but his team was not ready to do that. They have launched the complaint.



The IPL is tournament of BCCI and hence BCCI has the right to investigate it and punish the players, if required. The official broadcaster Sony TV has captured the incident and based on that, suspension has been forced on Harbhajan. This means, he will not play the match against Deccan Chargers, which is a crucial tie, considering both the teams are trying to open their winning account.

During the post match interview, the captain of Kings XI described the incident as "ugly."

Harbhajan has been given time till Monday to respond to the notice issued by BCCI.