Harbhajan can play on Sunday: Shah

Harbhajan Singh, issued a show cause notice by the Cricket Board for allegedly slapping rival paceman S Sreesanth of King's XI Punjab last night at Mohali, is free to play in Sunday's IPL tie for Mumbai Indians against Deccan Chargers. "We have issued a show cause notice to Harbhajan for which he has been given time till Monday evening to reply. He can play in the match," BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said. The match between Mumbai Indians, which has been captained by Harbhajan due to the groin injury to Sachin Tendulkar, and Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers is to be held at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. "The reply from Harbhajan will hopefully make things clearer," he pointed out. The shocking incident took place following a verbal altercation between the two players after the Punjab team, for which Harbhajan plays in the national championship for the Ranji Trophy, defeated the Mumbai franchise outfit owned by Reliance Industries. Sreesanth, also a temperamental player like Harbhajan who represents Kerala in Ranji Trophy, was seen shedding tears at the ground after the alleged slapping incident. Harbhajan was recently embroiled in a controversy Down Under after he was found guilty of racially abusing Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds, who represents the Hyderabad team in the IPL, in the Sydney Test and was banned for two Tests match referee Mike Procter. The punishment was toned down and he was found guilty only of general abuse following an appeal to the International Cricket Council which appointed a retired New Zealand judge to hear the player's appeal. Harbhajan got away with a monetary penalty after the racist slur against his name was removed and the judge later said the ICC did not make him aware of the player's previous brushes with the cricket authorities for breaching its code of conduct on quite a few occasions in the past.