By IANS
Adelaide : Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was cleared of the racial abuse charge against him but was penalised for verbal abuse by New Zealand judge John Hansen who heard his appeal against a three-Test ban here Tuesday.
The ban was revoked. Harbhajan was docked 50 percent of his match fee from the Sydney Test. Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds had alleged that the Indian spinner had hurled racial abuse at him.
In addition to Justice Hansen and Harbhajan, Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, India skipper Anil Kumble, batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, Symonds, and other Australian cricketers Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke were present at Tuesday’s hearing. Tendulkar, Hayden and Clarke had been nearby during the on-field incident during the third day of the Sydney Test.
The 27-year-old Indian spinner had earlier been judged guilty of breaching level 3.3 of the International Cricket Council (ICC) code of conduct by South African match referee Mike Procter.
Umpires Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson of the Emirates Elite Panel laid the charge against Harbhajan after the close of the day’s play following a complaint they received from Ponting.
Harbhajan pleaded not guilty to the charge but Procter held him guilty and imposed a ban of three Test matches on the India spinner. This infuriated the Indian team and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and they appealed to the ICC to conduct a fresh hearing.
In the fresh hearing Tuesday, Justice Hansen cleared Harbhajan of racial abuse charges but found him guilty of breaching level 2.8 of the ICC code of conduct, which deals with verbal abuse, as distinct from racial abuse.