Harbhajan Singh
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The temperamental off-spinner and Mumbai Indians stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh has been banned from rest of the IPL season for a minimum of 11 IPL matches for slapping Kings XI Punjab speedster S Sreesanth on Friday night.
Following this ban, Harbhajan will lose his match fees amounting to Rs three crores, the highest in cricket's history.
The 27-year-old spinner was not allowed to play for his team Mumbai Indians in the IPL match on Saturday.
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.
'The match referee went through the video footage and found the incident was totally unprovoked.
Announcing the Farokh Engineer.'s ( adjudicator for this row) decision , IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi told reporters that 'Instead of shaking hands, Harbhajan slapped him and proceeded'.
"After looking into the video footage in the presence of Sreesanth, complainant 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 in view of Harbhajan's admission Match Referee Farokh Engineer found him guilty of level 4.2 offence." Said Modi.
Subsequenlty he has been banned for the rest of the IPL this season,' he further added.
Meanwhile Mumbai Indians team manager Lalchand Rajput has also been penalised 50 percent of his match fee as he was found guilty of breaching the spirit of the game.
