Harbhajan in a spin over 'slap' row

Indian cricket bosses will look into allegations that controversial spinner Harbhajan Singh slapped a rival player.

Television pictures showed bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth sobbing at the end of an Indian Premier League match game on Friday, after his Mohali team defeated Mumbai, which is captained by Harbhajan.

Harbhajan has since denied hitting his India team-mate, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have demanded an explanation from the player.

Board secretary Niranjan Shah said in a statement: "The BCCI has taken serious note of the incident that happened between Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth at Mohali yesterday after the IPL match.

"The BCCI condemns the behaviour of Harbhajan Singh as a contracted player of the board and he is called upon to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him."

Singh has until Monday evening to respond, Mr Shah added.

Mohali captain Yuvraj Singh said: "It was unacceptable what happened. Harbhajan came back to the dressing room and apologised to Sreesanth."

But Harbhajan tried to play down the spat, saying: "It is not such a big issue the way people are making it out to be. It is between me and Sree."

In a tour of Australia this year, Singh was banned for three tests after being found guilty of making racist remarks against Andrew Symonds.

He was subsequently let off with a fine on a lesser charge of using abusive language after appealing against the decision.

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