A frustrated Harbhajan Singh got entangled in yet another controversy after allegedly slapping his Indian team colleague and IPL Mohali (Kings XI Punjab) paceman S Sreesanth during their Indian Premier League encounter yesterday.
Yuvraj Singh captain of Kings XI Punjab is reportedly planning to lodge a complaint against the off-spinner, who later apologised to the paceman in the dressing room of the Punjab team.
BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said the board would wait for the report from the team management before deciding on the future course of action.
Harbhajan, leading Mumbai Indians side, allegedly slapped Sreesanth when latter said something to him which the off-spinner found offensive.
Sreesanth was seen crying bitterly on the ground at the end of the IPL match, which his team won by 66 runs.
While Harbhajan kept mum on the issue during the post-match conference, Sreesanth tried to play down the incident.
“It is normal. Nothing serious happened. It is all in the game. I am fine. We will still be part of the national team,” Sreesanth said before leaving from the stadium.
As Sreesanth came to board the bus to return to the team hotel, waiting media mobbed him to listen to his version.
Harbhajan avoided the issue and said - “Can we have questions on just cricket,” when asked about what happened between him and Sreesanth.
Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput also requested media to restrict their questions to just cricket.
“This is really an ugly incident. You do not want to see such things off the field specially after such a win. I am pretty upset at what has happened. This is totally unacceptable,” Yuvraj Singh said apparently criticizing Harbhajan Singh.
Yuvraj also said - “I do not know what exactly happened but one does not want to see such things happening.”
Kings XI coach Tom Moody was also visibly upset by the incident and termed as “unacceptable” Harbhajan’s behavior.
“At the end of the day, players shake hands. But today saw more that from Harbhajan and Sreesanth. It is unacceptable behavior and I am sure officials will take of note.
“The positive thing is that Harbhajan had a long chat with Sreesanth. But I am not sure what ramifications this incident will have,” Moody said.
Upset after his team’s third successive defeat, Bhajji also looked unhappy with his teammates.
When asked if the task of captaincy was difficult - a visibly irritated Harbhajan said “When you lose nothing seems to be okay.” he said angrily when asked if captaincy was tough.”I don’t like losing. When you lose, you don’t feel happy.”
All said and done this is not an acceptable behavior coming from the Captain of an IPL team. He sure requires to be disciplined properly and action taken by the officials. More so it also puts a strong question on his capabilities to lead a team when he himself has no control over his emotions with also the loss of three vital matches with the last one by an overwhelming 66 runs! We think a better example will be to suspend this player immediately and set an example for the rest of the team which will sent out a clear message to everyone that such shameful actions are not tolerated.
Tags:
,
Bhaji,
harbhajan,
indians,
IPL,
Kings eleven,
Mumbai,
Punjab,
shameful,
slapping,
Sreesanth,
Yuvraj
