Harbhajan Singh banned from Indian Premier League

New Delhi (PTI): Off spinner Harbhajan Singh on Monday banned from playing in the Indian Premier League matches for slapping his Indian teammate S. Sreesanth after he pleaded guilty and apologized for it.

Harbhajan Singh was also slapped with a fine of 100 per cent match fees from the third match onwards while his Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput was fined 50 per cent of the match fee for not stopping the off-spinner's attack on Sreesanth playing for Kings XI Punjab.

Under the ICC code of conduct rules, a 4.2 offence refers to a physical assault and carries a minimum ban of 10 games and a maximum life ban from play.

S. Sreesanth, who was at the receiving end Harbhajan Singh's behaviour at the end of an IPL match in Mohali on Friday night, was also warned that his aggression on the field in future would be taken seriously.

"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," IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi said at a press conference at the conclusion of a two-hour hearing.

Aussies wave back, Team India ignored cricket fans

Hyderabad, 4 oct 2007: Cops played spoilsport by preventing cricket fans from having a glimpse of the Indian and Australian teams which arrived in the city for Friday's match.

Both teams reached Begumpet airport at about 2.30 pm in a special flight from Kochi.

To the utter disappointment and dismay of fans waiting since morning, police shepherded the players and drove them through an emergency exit to their hotel as soon as they stepped out of the flight.

The cops did not even allow the teams to reach arrival stand and drove them away in two buses.

Adding to the disappointment was the disdainful attitude of the Indian cricketers, who did not even care to look at the cheering crowd.

Though fans were loudly cheering former captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, captain M.S. Dhoni, vice-captain Yuvraj Singh and the new star Robin Uthappa, the cricketers just ignored them. Sachin Tendulkar also opted to be aloof.

It was the Aussies who proved more graceful. Bret Lee, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke waved and smiled at the fans.

The same scenario prevailed at the hotel at Banjara Hills. Indian cricketers ignored the media while Aussies posed for lensmen and clicked pictures of the fans.

Not more than a hundred fans were waiting at the airport, but police adopted an overbearing and overcautious attitude.

India's 1st Test series win in England after 21 years

India ended 21 years of agonising wait for its first Test series win in England but the feat lost some of its gloss with the beleaguered hosts escaping with a draw in the final encounter of the three match cricket series here today.

Chasing 500 for an improbable win, England could note-write history but they at least showed enough guts and gumption to bat out the entire final day and deny India a 2-0 win in the series.

The hosts, in their second innings, were 369 for 6 at stumps with Matt Prior (12 no) and Ryan Side bottom (three no) in the middle, leaving India 4-wicket away from a win. Kevin Pietersen top scored for the hosts with 101, while Ian Bell (62) played a gutsy knock down the order.

The series defeat, however, snapped England's glorious run of 11 unbeaten home series.

After salvaging a lucky draw in the first Test at Lord's, India comprehensively beat the hosts at Trent Bridge to go 1-0 up in the series and then dominated major part of the final Test here at the Oval only to let the hosts off the hook and settle for a draw.

Though Rahul Dravid would be happy to have led the side to its first Test series win on British soil since 1986, his decision not to enforce a follow-on despite a mammoth first innings lead of 319 would continue to dominate debates across the cricketing world.

Meanwhile, for the hosts, it was Kevin Pietersen's 10th Test century that kept England on course to save the final Test. The maverick batsman curbed his attacking nature and mixed caution with aggression. After Michael Vaughan's exit, he found an able ally in Paul Collingwood (40) who was hanging around till S Sreesanth trapped him with the first delivery after the new ball was taken.

Pietersen came to the wicket after India had removed both the England openers and he got off the mark courtesy a full toss from Anil Kumble that he drove past the bowler to the fence before playing an excellent drive off the spinner. After losing Vaughan soon after lunch, Pietersen thrived in the company of Collingwood as the pair had to deal with vicious turning deliveries from Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar on a wearing pitch.

The Indian fielders too contributed to the home team's cause with Dravid dropping Vaughan early on off Kumble and Mahendra Singh Dhoni letting off Collingwood on 13 off an arm ball from Tendulkar.

Indian Team with Sharukh Khan at Pepsi Function

Sreesanth, Sehwag, Dhoni, Sharukh Khan, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh

World Cup Indian Team Group Photo