By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian Premier League (IPL) match referee Farokh Engineer, who banned Harbhajan Singh for the entire tournament for slapping S. Sreenath, hopes that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) would soften its stance while giving the temperamental off-spinner a separate penalty.
“I am sure that BCCI will realise that Harbhajan’s punishment has been pretty harsh and I hope that they are lenient on him. But I can’t really comment what the BCCI has to do,” Engineer, who handed Harbhajan a minimum of 11-match ban in the inaugural Twenty20 league and a 100 per cent fine of match fee told the NDTV news channel.
Engineer, a former India wicket-keeper, added that though Sreesanth has been let off with a warning, he is “no angel”.
“I don’t think Sreesanth is an angel. He is a lovely guy and he has been warned to take it easy… Not to go beyond the mark. But Harbhajan made a big mistake there, a mistake that has never been made before,” he said.
Farokh insists that the video footage of the incident made things easier for the IPL board to take such extreme step against Harbhajan.
“The footage was extremely incriminating. In cricket, there is no body contact like football or boxing. It’s something that happened in the heat of the moment and he will be regretful about this through the rest of his life,” he said about Harbhajan’s assault on Sreesanth.