Its Official : Harbhajan Singh Banned for 5 ODIs
If you don’t have a clue what I am talking about, read this, and this.
The news is finally out. After the IPL Committee had banned Singh for 11 IPL games, the BCCI has banned him for a total of 5 One Day International matches for India. He has escaped a fine. Considering he has already spent USD 721,777.59 in lieu of the fine. This surely was the most expensive slap ever. To know more, you could check out the news broadcasts or even ask me.
The BCCI’s disciplinary committee, comprising president Sharad Pawar, president-elect Shashank Manohar, and vice-president Chirayu Amin, handed out the punishment in Mumbai.
The committee invoked Rule 3.2.1 of the BCCI regulations and handed out the maximum punishment. “Under this provision, the maximum punishment that can be meted out to a player is ‘a ban up to a maximum of 5 ODIs and / or 3 Test matches’,” a release from the board said.
Rule 3.2.1 says that:
Incident: Threat of assault on another Player, Team Official or spectator
Penalty: a ban up to a maximum of 5 ODIs and / or 3 Test matches
Incidentally, the IPL had imposed a much serious charge, a Level 4 charge, where a life ban could be possible. Talking of which, Harbhajan could still get one:
“The committee accordingly decided to ban Harbhajan Singh for five one-day internationals, starting today (14th May 2008), and further observed that any further instance of misconduct will invoke a life-ban.”
BCCI Release, 14th May 2008
The chances of Harbhajan repeating such a thing are very bleak. But he has a habit of surprising all of us. Or maybe all of this ain’t that surprising, knowing him. More on this later.
