Days after lashing out at the International Cricket Council (ICC) for letting off Australian opener Cameron Bancroft with only a fine of 75 percent of his match fee and not a ban in ball tampering scandal, India’s off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has now slammed Cricket Australia (CA) for announcing a 12-month ban on former Aussie skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner.
During Day 3 of the third Test match against South Africa in Cape Town, Bancroft was caught on camera using a sandpaper on the ball. Later, Smith and Bancroft accepted their mistake and apologized during the post-day press conference.
Following this, the ICC imposed a fine of 75 percent of Bancroft’s match fee and suspended Smith for a Test match. Smith was also fined 100 percent of his match fees.
Reacting to this, Harbhajan Singh took to his Twitter handle and accused ICC of being biased. The bowler tweeted:
“wow @ICC wow. Great treatment nd FairPlay. No ban for Bancroft with all the evidences whereas 6 of us were banned for excessive appealing in South Africa 2001 without any evidence and Remember Sydney 2008? Not found guilty and banned for 3 matches.different people different rules,” (sic) he tweeted.
wow @ICC wow. Great treatment nd FairPlay. No ban for Bancroft with all the evidences whereas 6 of us were banned for excessive appealing in South Africa 2001 without any evidence and Remember Sydney 2008? Not found guilty and banned for 3 matches.different people different rules
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) 25 March 2018
CA, however, following their internal investigations, handed over a year ban to Smith and Warner, while it suspended Bancroft for 9 months.
CA’s this decision did not go down well with Harbhajan and he tweeted:
“A year ban for ball tempering ?? That’s a joke.What kind of crime they have done ?Taking the game away from someone for a year is absolutely nonsense.understand if ban was for 1 test series or 2 but this is ridiculous.hope @CricketAus reduce th ban @stevesmith49 @davidwarner31.”
A year ban for ball tempering ?? That’s a joke.What kind of crime they have done ?Taking the game away from someone for a year is absolutely nonsense.understand if ban was for 1 test series or 2 but this is ridiculous.hope @CricketAus reduce th ban @stevesmith49 @davidwarner31
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) 29 March 2018
Meanwhile, Australian coach Darren Lehman also announced that he will quit his post after the conclusion of fourth Test match between Australia and South Africa.
