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Indian pace man S Sreesanth is ruled out on Saturday for the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh after getting a side strain. Punjab seamer Manpreet Gony is now included in the Indian squad as his replacement. Gony get his award of showing a good performance on the recently concluded Indian Premiere League.

“Due to non availability of Sreesanth, it was decided by the selection committee to send Manpreet Gony for Bangladesh tri-series,” Niranjan Shah, BCCI Secretary, said in a media release.

Because of his injury, Sreesanth is advised to take a rest of two weeks before getting work.

“Sreesanth was assessed by Dr. Kinja at Bangalore on Friday. He has got a left-sided external oblique strain. He would require about 2 weeks for recovering from the current situation and getting back to his normal bowling routine,” the press release added.

Gony has given a wonderful performance in IPL for the runner ups Chennai Super Kings. He had played just five-first class matches and claimed 17 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 26.05.

Gony is the third player who is called for ODI because of their brilliant work in IPL. Earlier Baroda all rounder Yousuf Pathan and Hyderabad spinner Pragyan Ojha were given ODI calls for the tri-series.

The Kerala pacer would now undergo a two-week rehabilitation programme and will be available for the Asia Cup, to be held in Pakistan.

“He will be available for Asia Cup 2008 to be played at Pakistan. Mr. Sreesanth rehabilitation will be organized at NCA in Bangalore,” the BCCI press release said.

Tags: Bangladesh, Cricket, Gony, India, Pakistan, Sreesanth, Tri Series

IPL Twenty-20 is the latest cricket fashion which is rocking in the cricket world nowadays. After 56 matches, the semis of the league are going to start today with the battle between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals. It is getting popularity among the cricket fans but the same is surrounded with lots of controversies and gossips since its start.

Before the start of the IPL, the issue of boycotting the coverage by the media gave a major jolt to this league. The IPL was reported to have sold the new media rights to the Twenty20 tournament to an unnamed US web company in a $50m deal. BCCI had said that all photographers covering IPL matches were mandatory required to upload photographs on IPL’s official website at their own cost which was later rejected to soften media norms for IPL.

After a lot of pressure mounted by the issue, the matter is resolved but it was just a starting. Eligibility of Shoiab Akhtar for IPL made the headlines after this issue. PCB has banned Shoiab Akhtar for 5 years to represent Pakistan but as a professional player he was likely to be eligible to play for Kolkata Knight Riders. BCCI didn’t want to create any problem so asked him to get permission from PCB failing which he was not allowed to play for KolKata Knight Riders. Only a week after PCB has stayed the order by a month and new enquiry will take place after that. Due to this he is now available to Knight Riders for selection.

Anyhow, these gossips were just trailers only. The big picture came into light with a new controversy. Harbhajan-Sreeshanth slap row was a biggest jolt to the IPL as well as to the cricket history. It was a shocking incident of slapping by Harbhajan after the Kings XI Vs. Mumbai Indians clash in Mohali on April 25 which left the cricketers embarrassed. The incident flamed up when the BCCI asked the short tempered Harbhajan to explain the action. Frustrated with his lose, Bhajji slapped Sreesanth and the incident is caught by cameras of media. The issue was bounced high by the media thereafter. Finally the issue came to an end on May 14 when Bhajji was banned for 5 ODIs and was warned by the Cricket Board of a life ban for any further misconduct on his part. That was one of the very toughest times for the career of the 27-year-old off spinner Harbhajan.

Later BCCI also banned an umpire to stand in a match on this topic. The umpire has made any comment on the Sreesanth’s behavior and he got the reward.

Sehwag was no more left away from controversies. The match between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers was stopped at a very crucial point in the 19th over when Shewag complained to the umpires that the crowd is throwing stones at him. Sehwag was very upset with the incident which wiped off the happiness of his victory in the match.

Shahrukh-Ganguly tashan was one more sensational gossip of IPL. A reported rift between Kolkata Knight Rider’s owner Shahrukh Khan and skipper Sourav Ganguly came in light after the team’s poor performance against the Rajasthan Royals which cost them their chance to feature in the top four teams. The two have also conflicts over various issues like team selection, team combination and player selection. Shahrukh Khan and Captain Sourav Ganguly had different opinions about team composition and players to buy during the auction. The other major reason for the rift is Shahrukh’s faith in coach John Buchanan that saw him giving more powers to the Australian in team issues surpassing Ganguly. The King Khan further upset Ganguly by announcing that Buchanan would be taking control of the team next season. Bid for the players in the auction was another issue between them. The two however now says that there are no differences between them and all issues are resolved now.

Shahrukh was also warned by the BCCI to follow Code of Conduct in cricket. The Anti Corruption Unit officials had cautioned the actor about going into the dressing room and the team dug out during the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. BCCI supported the law against Srk also. King Khan was highly disappointed by this issue and the warning. He even said that he would keep him away from IPL now. But later he was permitted to cheer the team from dug out.

Now come to the colorful part of IPL. Cheerleaders, which are new in Indian cricket, gave a new color to the game but on the same side it gave rise to a hot debate among the politicians and the officials. Vijay Mallya, the owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, started the trend of keeping the cheer-leaders with the team and others followed. There was a lot of hue and cry about the dressing of these cheer leaders. They were finally made to wear so called decent looking clothes by the moral brigade of Mumbai. Political leaders also gave their comments in the matter. Some protested it while others found nothing insane in the dancing of cheerleaders. But still the cheerleaders are cheering the viewers and fans of cricket in the play.

Another issue which rose on cheerleaders was the racial abuse directed towards two dark skinned cheerleaders hired by the Kings XI Punjab team. They have alleged that they were asked to sit out just before the April 19 match of the IPL played in Mohali because they were not white. Cheerleaders Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson were banned from performing at a major cricket match in India.

Shane Warne and Ganguly’s views on field leaded a new controversy in IPL. Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Shane Warne lodged a complaint against his Kolkata Knight Riders counterpart Sourav Ganguly for resorting to time-wasting tactics during their IPL match and refusing to accept the fielder’s word on a “clean catch”. Ganguly dismissed the Australian’s claim that he had violated the spirit of the game by indulging in delaying tactics and refusing to accept the fielder’s words on a ‘clean catch’.  Later Shane Warne and Sourav Ganguly fined 10 per cent of match fees. Shane Warne fined for his comments in press conference. Ganguly fined for his on-field behavior.

Recently a complaint has been filed against Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia for allegedly publicly insulting and using derogatory language against Mohali police chief Ranbir Singh Khatra during Friday’s IPL match between the Punjab team and Deccan Chargers at PCA stadium, Mohali.

The police officer lodged a complaint with Mohali deputy commissioner that Wadia had used “insulting” language on him. The complaint also encircled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for smoking in the Long Room of the PCA stadium in an earlier IPL match.

One more issue is in the air. Despite loosing the semi final berth Mumbai Indians are hosting the semi finals and final in Mumbai, since the owner of Mumbai Indians has bid the highest value for the team. So this issue has created some sort of flame. Skipper of Rajasthan Royals Shane Warne is not happy with this. He was looking for hosting the semi finals in the top two teams place.

So these are a few colorful events from the cricketing world of India, but I am not sure where the cricket in between these issues is?

Tags: Controversies, Cricket, Ganguly, Harbhajan, Harbhajan Srresanth Row, India, IPL, Slap, Sreesanth, T 20, Twnty 20

Harbhajan Singh, who has been temporarily banned by the IPL organizers from slapping his Team India teammate Sreesanth, has appealed to the cricket board to give him ‘one final chance’ before taking disciplinary action against him.

The 27-year-old off-spinner has written his appeal in a fresh letter to the BCCI just two days ahead of the disciplinary hearing to be conducted by the Board-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati in Ahmedabad.

Harbhajan who has allegedly slapped Sreesanth on April 25, after the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and kings XI Punjab, admitted in the latter that he has apologized to Sreesanth after the incident in Mohali and was willing to do it again in public, as reported by a TV channel on Wednesday.

“Along with accepting my most sincere and heartfelt apologies over this incident, I would like to appeal to the BCCI’s sense of fair play and ask for one final chance before taking any disciplinary action against me over this incident” he said in the letter.

Although the IPL governing council has already penalized him, the BCCI will also punish him separately for the level 4 offence as per the ICC Players Code of Conduct. A level 4 offence may leads to a maximum punishment of a life ban or a minimum ban of five Tests or 10 ODIs.

BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said that Harbhajan has been writing a number of letters and it was not proper for him to divulge the contents.

“The inquiry is going on. We are waiting for the report,” Shah said.

Tags: BCCI, Bhajji, Cricket, Harbhajan Singh, Harbhajan Sreesanth, IPL, Sreesanth

While investigating the recent slapping row between Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth, BCCI-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati on Tuesday said that he was shocked after watching the video footage of the incident.

“What I saw was shocking but it has made my job easier. It will also help me in my further investigation,” he told reporters after viewing the footage of the incident at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai with IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi, Board Secretary Niranjan Shah and Joint Secretary M P Pandove.

The incident happened after an Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab on April 25 when after the defeate Harbhajan Singh allegedly slapped Sreesanth on the ground in frustration and left the player in tears.

Nanavati was asked by the board to probe the incident after Harbhajan was banned from the rest of the IPL by its disciplinary committee.

Nanavati took the statement of match referee Farookh Engineer and will also speak to Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput, who was allegedly standing behind Harbhajan when he slapped Sreesanth after the match.

The Ahmedabad lawyer will submit his inquiry report on the matter to Board President Sharad Pawar on Monday.

Umpire Amish Saheba, who was suspended for a match after criticizing Sreesanth’s behavior in an interview, had denied making any statement against Sreesanth when asked.

Nanavati is expecting to complete his investigation by Sunday and send the reports to the BCCI chief on Monday. Nanavati had also summoned Harbhajan and Sreesanth to Ahmedabad this weekend.

“I have summoned them. They have been told to come either on Friday or Saturday. Harbhajan will be coming on Friday. Sreesanth is yet to confirm a date,” he said on Monday.

Tags: Bhajji, Harbhajan, Harbhajan Singh, Mumbai, Slapping, Sree, Sreesanth

After the Harbhajan Sreesanth row, all are thinking about the Hummer plans of Harbhajan Singh. The legendary off spinner from India has announced to media that he was going to buy a Hummer, from the whopping Rs. 3.4 crore he had been paid to join the Mumbai Indians franchise at the IPL auction.

Harbhajan Singh has announced this after coming from Australia after winning the CB Tri-series.

Now after the row with Sreesanth he has been removed from IPL and this ban has cost him almost Rs 2.6 crore, so how will he going to purchase the Hummer, a tank like vehicle famous in US.

This incident has ignited the memory of the 1983 world cup final, in which India defeated West Indies and clinched the single world cup. In this match West Indies were so sure that they are going to win the match. Malcolm Marshall was so excited that just before the final was played, on June 25, he put a down payment on a BMW car. Rest of the story is buried under the history.

Tags: Bhajji, Cricket, Harbhajan, Harbhajan Singh, Harbhajan Sreesanth, IPL, Sreesanth

Harbhajan and Sreesanth row has added a new dirty scar to Indian Cricket history. Harbhajan Singh has been banned on Monday for the remainder of the current IPL season after Farokh Engineer, the match referee, found him guilty of slapping Sreesanth at the end of Mumbai Indians match against Kings XI Punjab on Friday, 25th April, 2008.

Cricket known for the gentleman’s play is no more left gentle. Harbhajan-Sreesanth case in IPL has assisted to loss all the respect of the Indian Cricket. The behavior of players was said to be terrible. The two are getting an image of aggressive and volatile players of India. If the two are on the field, there will be no surprise if anything unpredictable happens.

The two are always associated with controversies. Problems and trouble always run behind them to create cricket crisis. The behavior of both players had come under the scanner during the recent South Africa series in India, too when Harbhajan apologized to the South African batsman Ashwell Prince for abusing him during the third Test of the series in Kanpur last month.

Telling about his views on Sreesanth the South Africa coach Mickey Arthur said, “Sreesanth was just Sreesanth. Perhaps our players lost a lot of respect for him on the tour. He constantly abused AB de Villiers and it was very personal. But considering the general spirit in which the series was played, we didn’t feel strongly enough to complain.”

Arthur admitted that the behavior of Harbhajan and Sreesanth during the India series “was not great”. “When there are two such volatile players on the field, anything can happen,” Arthur said criticizing on the impulsive nature of the two players.

Recently the BCCI has also asked to give an explanation from umpire Amiesh Saheba for his remarks which he made to ‘Mumbai Mirror’. Saheba, one of the on-field umpires during the match in Mohali has been withdrawn by the governing council of the Indian Premier League from his next two matches.

He told the tabloid that he and his fellow umpire Aleem Dar had warned Sreesanth and he said that the fast bowler was “disliked in the Indian dressing room”. “Sreesanth was sledging Mumbai’s batsmen right from the start, “He was over the top throughout the match and was acting like a petulant schoolboy.

Saheba commented on irritable nature of Sreesanth and said “He is one of India’s main bowlers, and yet, he is not doing anything to get rid of that schoolboy image of his. His colleagues are not too happy with that.”

And now Harbhajan is paying a big loss for his mistake. The ban put on him is for 11 matches, including last Sunday’s game, extendable to 13 if Mumbai progress to the semi-final and final. He is fined 100% of his match fee for Friday’s game. He will now be paid only for the first two matches of the IPL.

However the assault was totally found unprovoked in the video tapes but Sreesanth was let off with a warning. Harbhajan has offered an apology and both were found embarrassed in front of the cameras after the hearing.

The incident gave a big jolt to Bhajji’s team. Sachin was out of the team because of his injury and after successive four loses, and now Harbhajan is also not there. The incident also gave trouble to the team’s coach. Video tapes revealed that Lalchand Rajput, the Mumbai Indians coach was right behind Harbhajan when the incident took place. He didn’t take any step to restrain him and has been fined 50% of his match fee.

Bhajji could also face further punishment from BCCI, which announced a separate probe into the incident and appointed lawyer Sudhir Nanavati to investigate the charges against Harbhajan, who is on its payroll as a centrally contracted player.

Within 15 days, Nanavati will submit his findings from which BCCI will decide on further action against the bowler. If he would be found guilty, he could be banned for life or five Test matches or 10 one-day internationals.

Although Sreesanth is the main bowler and Harbhajan is a good Indian spinner, the two should take care of their impulsive behavior. There is a need to learn from the past incidents and to remain cool and intellectual on the field.

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Tags: Bhajji, Cricket, Gopu, Harbhajan, Harbhajan Slapped, Indian Cricket, Slapped Sreesanth, Sree, Sreesanth

Mumbai Indians stand-in Captain Harbhajan Singh after being charged for alleged slapping S Sreesanth following an IPL match against Kings XI Punjab on Friday is temporarily suspended from the tournament till the inquiry goes on.

Harbhajan however apologized to Sreesanth in the dressing room after the incident. After the matter was downplayed by both, S Sreesanth gave a fresh statement telling that Harbhajan didn’t only slap him; it was more than a slap.

“Based on prima facie video evidence as seen and reviewed by the match adjudicator and referee Mr. Farokh Engineer from the tapes provided by Sony & TWI, a decision has been reached to suspend with immediate effect Harbhajan Singh of the Mumbai Indians pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, April 28, 2008,” IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi said in a statement.

“The inquiry into the incident at Mohali in the game between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians will now take place at the Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi on April 28th 2008.”

“A final verdict would be announced by the adjudicator Farokh Engineer post hearing at New Delhi”, he said.

Both, Sreesanth and Harbhajan will be present while hearing.

Sreesanth’s team, Kings XI Punjab has lodged an official complaint with the BCCI, demanding action against Bhajji. In a complaint sent to the BCCI, the Punjab team members have expressed their disappointment over the matter.

Harbhajan is getting the image of ‘Bad Boy’ in the Indian Cricket after got involved in a sequence of controversies one by one. It will be on Monday when everyone will get to know that whether he will be allowed to play in further matches of IPL or will be suspended from the tournament.

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Tags: Bhajji, Harbhajan Singh, IPL, Mumbai Indians, Sreesanth

Mumbai Indian stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh on Saturday downplayed the controversy regarding him allegedly slapping S Sreesanth to bring the Kings XI Punjab pacer to tears, saying the issue “had been sorted out”.

Sreesanth said the incident as “shake hand on a wrong side” and said he would not file a complaint against him.

“Not exactly (slapped), it was a shake hand on a wrong side. I don’t want to file any complaint against him,” said Sreesanth who was seen bitterly crying on the ground last night.

After the Punjab team won the tenth IPL match on Friday night against Mumbai Indians by 66 runs, aggressive Harbhajan allegedly hit Sreesanth when the pace man said something to him but later Bhajji apologized him in the dressing room of the home team.

Harbhajan said that all things are sorted out now. Sreesanth, on his part, also said everything was “normal” between him and Harbhajan.

“A lot of things happen in a family. We are part of one family. I think a lot of things which are coming out in the media, whatever has happened we have sorted out all, everything is fine now,” Harbhajan said before leaving for Mumbai with his team this morning.

“Everything is normal, there is nothing between us,” said Sreesanth.

Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar, who missed the IPL matches because of his groin injury, gave no comments regarding the issue.

Harbhajan had preferred to maintain silence on the issue in the post match conference but Punjab team captain Yuvraj Singh had described the incident as “ugly”.

“I do not know what exactly happened but one does not want to see such things happening.” said Yuvi.

The pace man was seen crying bitterly on the ground at the end of the IPL match.

Harbhajan is known for his short tempered nature. There were lots of controversies associated with his name. Many times he loses his temper and got involved in offensive incidents on cricket ground. He must take care of his temper and should remain calm with players and on the cricket ground.

Tags: Harbhajan, IPL, Sachin, Slap, Sreesanth, Yuvraj

India leaded South Africa by 23 runs after the second day of third test on Saturday for Future Cup series in Kanpur. India ended the day on 288 at 88 overs for nine loses against the South African first innings total of 265. Ishant Sharma (0) and Sreesanth (9) remained on the pitch as the last wicket pair during the play.

Saurav Ganguly can be said the hero of today’s match giving 87 runs off 119 balls. It was his seventh fifty against South Africa while his 34th in test. Laxman also gave a satisfied contribution of 50 runs. Other players couldn’t contribute much.

India was dull at start as both the openers- Virendra Sehwag and Waseem Jaffar were sent to pavilion after a small score of 35. Sehwag (8) was dismissed by Dale Steyn while Jaffer (15) was sent back by Marckel.

Dravid and Laxman gave a partnership for 78 runs giving a little stability to the team. But soon the joint venture got disrupt when Dravid was catch out by Markel. Dravid gave 29 runs including 4 fours for 106 balls. Later Markel dismissed Laxman as soon as he completed his half century.

Yuvraj Singh contributed 32 runs to the team and was catch out by A.B. De Villiers on Harris’s ball. Captain Dhoni also gave an increment of 32 points to the team score.

Bhajji and Piyush were fragile at the ground with scores of 6 and 4 respectively.

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were the most successful South African bowlers with figures of three for 60 and three for 57 respectively.

Ganguly said that it was his best knock in difficult pitch like that of Greenpark stadium. He said, “There was pressure since I was coming back. In terms of difficulty of surface, it’s number one innings.”

“I wanted to play my normal game. On such surfaces, it’s how you think matters. If you think about the delivery that goes through the top, you will get out to normal deliveries.” Former captain Saurav Ganguly added after the day’s play. Watch the live proceedings of the third day of second test between India and South Africa.

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Tags: Ganguly, India, Ishant, Laxman, Sehwag, South Africa, Sreesanth