By IANS,
New Delhi : South African coach Mickey Arthur is not surprised with the tiff between Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth, and has said his team lost respect for both the players because of their on-field behaviour in the recently concluded India-South Africa series.
Recalling an incident during the third Test in Kanpur, Arthur said Harbhajan abused batsman Ashwell Prince.
“There was a hearing by the match referee (Roshan Mahanama), during which Harbhajan apologised to Prince. It was settled and we were happy with the apology. I am not 100 per cent sure what was said. But Ashwell felt very strongly about it at that time and that’s why we took it up,” Arthur was quoted by Cricinfo.
Arthur also said Sreesanth had hurled some personal abuses on A.B. de Villiers.
“Sreesanth was just Sreesanth. Perhaps our players lost a lot of respect for him on the tour. He constantly abused A.B. de Villiers and it was very personal. But considering the general spirit in which the series was played, we did not feel strongly enough to complain,” he added.
“At the end of the day, we are not squealers. We strongly believe that what happens on the field stays on it,” he said.
Asked about the IPL incident, Arthur said he was not surprised because “when there are two such volatile players on the field, anything can happen.”
Harbhajan was banned Monday from the rest of Indian Premier League after match referee Farokh Engineer found him guilty of physically assaulting Sreesanth. The BCCI has initiated a separate probe into the incident for violation of the ICC code of conduct as Harbhajan is a contracted BCCI player.