 Probe over, Nanavati to submit report on Monday
9th May 2008 23:03 IST
Agencies
It is learnt that Harbhajan pleaded guilty, like he had done in the April 28 hearing before Engineer, and said he made mistakes but if given one final chance, he would never repeat them.
However, the BCCI is unlikely to spare him and it is speculated that the temperamental off-spinner would be handed down a ban of 10 one-day matches.
The IPL had on April 28 banned Harbhajan for the rest of the Twenty20 tournament after he pleaded guilty, a punishment that cost him a whopping Rs 3 crores.
The ban meant that Harbhajan, who was captain of the Mumbai Indians in the absence of an injured Sachin Tendulkar when the incident took place, would sit out for a minimum of 11 IPL matches and a maximum of 13 matches in case his team reached the final.
The 27-year-old player, who has a notorious reputation for on-field skirmishes, was handed down the punishment under which he would forfeit match fees from the third match onwards by Engineer after a two-hour hearing.
Sreesanth, who was at the receiving end of Harbhajan's temper, was also warned against aggressive on-field behaviour and told that his conduct would be taken seriously.
Nanavati was appointed Commissioner on April 28 to go into the fracas and was given 15 days time to submit his report to BCCI President Sharad Pawar.
Nanavati will submit his report to Pawar on Monday and the Disciplinary Committee will then take a final decision. Apart from Pawar, President-elect Shashank Manohar and vice-president Chirayu Amin are the other members of the committee.
Mumbai Indians manager 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.
Harbhajan, who was bought by Mukesh Ambani's franchise for a whopping Rs 3.40 crores during the landmark auction, was found guilty of breaching level 4.2 offence under the ICC Code of Conduct that relates to physically assaulting a fellow player, match official or spectators.
As per the ICC Code of Conduct, Level 4.2 offence leads to a maximum punishment of life ban or a minimum of 5 Tests or 10 ODIs. |
