Cricket, slap, punishment, inquiry, big daddy and IPL!!!

No prizes for guessing the reference to context, surely not many players have left a dent on the game like Bhajji has.

Well, well, the chaos doesn’t seem to die down at all. Harbhajan Singh, in his wildest of dreams, would not have even imagined that his slap would create pandemonium of this proportion. The episode is now more than 12 days old and Bhajji in turn has been ‘slap’ped a sentence which prohibits him to play in this edition of the IPL. It seems that he hit Sreesanth so hard that the tremors of his whack have moved the match officials, IPL organisers, BCCI and now the BCCI appointed inquiry commissioner into action.

Let us all briefly go scene-by-scene through the ‘Slapgate’ sequence.

25th April, 2008: Kings XI beat Mumbai Indians at Mohali. Suddenly there is a buzz about Sreesanth crying. TV channels are flashing footage of the bubbling Keralite sobbing inconsolably. News comes in that Sreesanth has been slapped by Mumbai Indians skipper Harbhajan Singh. Kings XI skipper Yuvraj Singh and coach Tom Moody criticise Bhajji’s act.

26th April, 2008: Sreesanth speaks tothe media and clarifies that it was only ‘a handshake which went wrong’ and vehemently denied Bhajji slapping him. Nevertheless, his statement was half baked and there was definitely some more meat in it. BCCI slaps a showcause notice on Harbhajan asking him to clarify his action and reply by 28th April.

He is temporarily suspended from playing in IPL after the governing council with match referee Farookh Engineer reviews the prima facie evidence of tapes provided by Sony and TWI.

28th April, 2008: The IPL governing council along with match referee suspend Harbhajan Singh from playing any further in IPL. Harbhajan Singh is found guilty. Only a couple of days back Sreesanth had rejected claims of Harbhajan slapping him. The player seemed unperturbed himself but match referee Farookh Engineer made Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput pay dearly for his ignorance towards reporting the incident.

The same day BCCI appoints senior advocate Sudhir Nanavati as their enquiry commissioner. His enquiry was supposed to be a separate thing from what Farookh Engineer had prepared.

29th April, 2008: A day after Turbanator is slapped for his act Mumbai Indians versus Kings XI officiating umpire Ameish Saheba faces the music. IPL authorities slap him a two match ban for making untimely statements to a tabloid about Sreesanth’s behaviour. Saheba fervently denies giving the interview and said that he was conned. Apparently he passed these statements regarding Sree’s behaviour on radio too.

6th May, 2008: After speaking to all the concerned parties, Appeals commissioner Sudhir Nanavati, says he is shocked to see the footage. He feels that it has made his job easier. The footage showed Lalchand Rajput laughing after the incident.

7th May, 2008: A senior BCCI spokesperson is shocked in lieu with the ‘shocking’ statement made by Appeals commissioner Sudhir Nanavati. Another former vice-president of BCCI also expressed his displeasure over the same. The appointed commissioner gives Sree and Bhajji the opportunity to bring in their lawyers.

Sudhir Nanavati will submit the final report on 12th of May, 2008 and rumours are running that Harbhajan will face a ban from international cricket too for sometime. The point here is that BCCI with the advent of IPL has again played the role of ‘big daddy’ to perfection. Professionalism which was being called out for a long time now has become the thumb rule.

This eventually is being ruled by market forces. But now it will show the exit to non-performing assets or call it the liabilities. It has already shown the door to every one who has tried to bring any disrepute to the game. It may be an umpire, player or a coach, no one is spared. Even Charu Sharma, the CEO of Bangalore Royal Challengers was sacked for mediocre results. Sacking has never been the same in Indian cricket.