BCCI bans Harbhajan for five ODIs

Harbhajan Singh has been banned by the Indian board for five ODIs for slapping Sreesanth during an IPL match last month. The ban means Harbhajan will miss India's forthcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and the start of the Asia Cup in Pakistan, in addition to 11 matches in the IPL as earlier decided by the league.
A senior BCCI official told Cricinfo that Harbhajan faces a life ban if he is reported and found guilty by match officials in any level of cricket of indiscipline as specified by the Indian board's rules, which range from verbally abusing a rival player to physical assault.
"This obviously doesn't involve minor offences such as showing dissent against an umpire's decision which usually attract fines of 10-20% of the player's match fee," the official said. "But if he is found guilty of even verbal abuse, in any level of cricket, his career could end. The key is that the life ban threat has been officially recorded and that leaves little room for doubt later. Harbhajan is on dangerous ground and has to very careful."
Sreesanth was sent a letter by the BCCI instructing him to mend his ways on the field. "[If] you do not improve your behavior, the board would be constrained to take appropriate decision," the letter, written by board secretary Niranjan Shah, stated.
The disciplinary committee, comprising president Sharad Pawar, president-elect Shashank Manohar and vice-president Chirayu Amin, handed out the punishment after meeting Harbhajan in Mumbai. The speed of the decision-making came as a surprise since the committee was not due to meet on Wednesday; instead, a date was to be fixed for its meeting.
The committee invoked Rule 3.2.1 of the BCCI regulations and handed out the maximum punishment under it. "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.
"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."
Shah explained the reason for terming it a level 3 offence instead of level 4, as the IPL had deemed. "We charged him under the BCCI's Code of Conduct.
"The IPL had adopted the ICC'S Spirit of Cricket policy and so the match referee had applied the ICC' Code of Conduct to give a 11-match ban. Our enquiry was separate and we decided to punish him under the BCCI regulations."
Sudhir Nanavati, the board's investigating commissioner who submitted a 14-page report on the incident, was also present at the meeting. Nanavati concluded his investigation into the row on May 12 and submitted his findings to the board. Asked if the enquiry commissioner's recommendation that leniency be shown towards Harbhajan, Shah said the commissioner's job was "to present the real facts".
Nanavati, a senior lawyer, said he was asked by the disciplinary committee whether the punishment was appropriate, and he gave three reasons why he felt it was. "Firstly, Harbhajan accepted his guilt straight away and apologised to the BCCI, to Sreesanth and again, in public," Nanavati told Cricinfo. "Secondly, he had already been handed down a stiff punishment by the IPL in the form of a ban. And thirdly, his behaviour ever since the incident was submissive, and not aggressive - he accepted his guilt, never went on the offensive and assured that he would not repeat the offence again."