The Surfer

A petulant schoolboy

While the BCCI probes the Harbhajan-Sreesanth controversy, Amiesh Saheba, one of the on-field umpires, offers hints as to what instigated Harbhajan to slap his opponent

While the BCCI probes the Harbhajan-Sreesanth controversy, Amiesh Saheba, one of the on-field umpires, offers hints as to what instigated Harbhajan to slap his opponent. Saheba says Sreesanth relentlessly abused the Punjab players through the match, despite being warned twice by the umpires. However, he condemns Harbhajan's reaction. Mumbai Mirror has the full story.
"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."
On the topic of infamous altercations on the field, Mid-Day caught up with Rashid Patel, the left-arm seamer who was banned by the Indian board for 13 months in 1991 for chasing Raman Lamba with a stump during a Duleep Trophy match. Patel advices Harbhajan Singh to keep himself occupied and work on his spin variations and forget he's serving a sentence.
During my ban period, I supervised Baroda’s Ranji Trophy preparatory camp. Harbhajan can help his teammates too. I firmly believe that a cricketer can continue to learn by observing others at play and there is a lot of action that Harbhajan can watch.
Meanwhile, Andrew Symonds, who was caught up with his all entanglements with Harbhajan in Australia, says he is "much better off" after his IPL stint in India. Sandeep Dwivedi of the Indian Express caught up with him on the sidelines of an ad shoot.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo