Harbhajan must explain slapping row

NEW DELHI, India -- Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh could be facing an extensive ban from the game after being accused of slapping national team-mate Shanthakumaran Sreesanth during a domestic Twenty20 match in Mohali.

Young fast bowler Sreesanth was seen weeping in full view of television cameras after the incident.

Harbhajan, captaining Mumbai, later apologized to Punjab's Sreesanth but the Punjab team management lodged a formal complaint to tournament officials.

Spinner Harbhajan was suspended from the tournament until a hearing by match referee Farokh Engineer in New Delhi on Monday. That ruled him out of Mumbai's match on Sunday night.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was also preparing to take separate action against Harbhajan, who is a centrally contracted player, under International Cricket Council rules.

"Indiscipline will not be tolerated and the player will face the consequences for what he has done," said BCCI official Ratnakar Shetty. Harbhajan will be charged under level 4 of the ICC's Code of Conduct which deals with assaulting a fellow player.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement that Harbhajan had been "called upon to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him."

Harbhajan was banned for three Tests earlier this year after being found guilty of making racist remarks against Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, but was let off with a fine following an appeal to the ICC.

Sreesanth, 24, has also faced disciplinary action in the past for misbehavior on the field. "We have warned Sreesanth in the past to behave himself and will do so again," said Shetty. "We want to first find out what transpired on Friday night."

Harbhajan said on television: "It is not such a big issue the way people are making it out to be. It is between me and Sree. What you're showing on TV, it is between us." E-mail to a friend