The Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday suspended umpire Amish Saheba for two matches for speaking his mind to a newspaper about Kings XI Punjab pacer S. Sreesanth's on-field behaviour against Mumbai Indians in Mohali on Friday night.
Apart from the IPL, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also sought an explanation from Saheba for his comments.
Saheba, who was umpiring the eventful match along with Pakistani Aleem Dar in which Mumbai Indians stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh slapped Kings XI Sreesanth, said the Kerala pacer was behaving like a "petulant school boy" ceaselessly sledging the Mumbai Indians players.
"Sreesanth was sledging Mumbai batsmen right from the start. In fact, I along with my colleague Dar twice warned him. We also warned his skipper Yuvraj Singh. Sreesanth was really going over the top," Saheba told a local newspaper.
Contrary to Saheba's statement, Match Referee Farokh Engineer, in a hearing on Monday, said the incident was completely unprovoked but still warned Sreesanth to curb his on-field antics.
Harbhajan has been banned for the rest of the IPL season and has been fined 100 percent of his match fee.
