Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been banned for five One Day International (ODI) by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for slapping his teammate S Sreesanth.
The BCCI-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati submitted the report.
The Disciplinary Committee of the BCCI, comprising President Sharad Pawar, President-Elect Shashank Manohar, and Vice-President Chirayu Amin, met at the Cricket Centre earlier today and gave the decision.
Harbhajan Singh will miss the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and 2 matches of the Asia Cup in Pakistan.
Bhajji had earlier admitted his guilt in the concerned matter. He had also asked the board to be lenient and assured that there would be no misconduct on his part in the future.
The Committee invoked Rule 3.2.1 of the BCCI Regulations for Players, Team officials, Managers, Umpires and Administrators. Under this provision, the maximum punishment that can be meted out to a player is 'a ban up to a maximum of 5 ODIs and or 3 Test matches.'
The Committee accordingly decided to ban Bhajji for 5 ODIs, starting from today and further observed that any further instance of misconduct would invoke a life-ban.
Harbhajan Singh has already been banned by the IPL for 11 matches.
