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.

Will Deccan Chargers make it to finals?

After lying low for three matches, the Deccan Chargers came out in full force on Sunday to maul Mumbai Indians and record their first win of the IPL tournament at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.

After restricting the home side to a modest 154, the Chargers made mockery of the Mumbai total courtesy Adam Gilchrist’s savage 47-ball 109 not out to overhaul the target in just 12 overs without losing a wicket. The win took Deccan Chargers from eighth to sixth on the points table, which has Bangalore and Mumbai languishing at the bottom.

Gilchrist exploded like a dynamite, cracking 10 soaring sixes and nine boundaries to batter the Mumbai bowlers, in the process recording the fastest century in Twenty20 cricket (42 balls). The previous fastest hundred, off 47 balls, was set by Gilly’s teammate Andrew Symonds during the Chargers’ last game against Rajasthan Royals at home last week.

The Australian was in devastating form, striking the ball clean and long from the very beginning to take the game away from Mumbai, whose stand-in captain Shaun Pollock shuffled the bowling pack regularly without much success. With Gilly on fire smashing sixes at will, all the Mumbai fielders could do was fetch the ball from the fence.

The man of the match was modest. “I played according to my instinct,” Gilchrist said, before giving credit to the bowlers. “They did a good job of restricting Mumbai, which made it easy for the batsmen.”

Top guns in home team VVS Laxman to be captain

The Indian Premium League bids for the top players yielded fabulous results for the South based teams.
Deccan Chronicle won five of the world's best players including Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris and Herschelle Gibbs proving that cricket has become a global game

Icons don't matter, players do

The Hyderabad franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) won Australian keeper opener Adam Gilchrist after making a $7,00,000 bid for him at the first round of players' auction in Mumbai.

Controversy ridden Australian Andrew Symonds was also bought by Hyderabad for the second highest price of $1.35 million. So far, the Hyderabad and Chennai franchises have secured the highest bids.

Hyderabad's other winning bids were for Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi ($675,000), New Zealander Scott Styris ($175,000), Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa ($5,75,000), Rohit Sharma ($750,000), V.V.S.Laxman ($375,000) and Sri Lankan Chamara Silva ($100,000).

Managing director of Deccan Chronicle Mr P.K. Iyer said that team Hyderabad has appointed V.V.S. Laxman as its captain. "Laxman has put his team before his status. He has done a great job and has always shown true sportsman spirit. We look forward to taking the team ahead," he said Vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Mr Rajeev Shukla said, "Hyderabad had picked the best combination of players. They do not just have good performers but big names as well. They have an advantage of not having an iconic Indian player in their team so they can work better with their team composition."

Anshuman Gaekwad (Former Team India coach) also shares Shukla's opinion. He feels the theory of having an iconic player is not that important because it is the team management which will work on the best combination and balance for the team. "What's an iconic player? It's just a big name. The absence of an iconic player gives Hyderabad a good chance. With Symonds and Gilchrist roped in, Hyderabad will have a big advantage over the other teams," he says.

Lack of an iconic player is worrying no one. Vivek Jaisimha too says he doesn't understand the concept of an iconic player influencing a team. "I would say we have damn good team. With such powerful batsmen, we will definitely pose a tough fight against the others," says Vivek.

Just goes to show that a winning team does not merely need big names but players who are good performers.with their team composition.