The Harbhajan-Sreesanth spat

Check sequence of events - Dhoni

Cricinfo staff

April 28, 2008

	Mahendra Singh Dhoni: "Harbhajan is a very aggressive cricketer who plays hard and is there for his team-mates whenever they need him. Even Sreesanth has seen this supportive side of Harbhajan in the Indian dressing room" © Getty Images

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's captain in the shorter versions of the game, hopes the authorities will check the sequence of events rather than go by what television footage in the Harbhajan Singh-Sreesanth controversy.

Comparing the row to the one between footballers Zinedine Zidane and Marco Matterazi at the last World Cup final, Dhoni felt that the act of provocation needed to be checked too.

Harbhajan was temporarily suspended from the Mumbai Indians side for allegedly hitting Sreesanth after the match between Mumbai and Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on Friday. His hearing, today, is based on additional footage of the incident from one of the host broadcaster's 21 cameras at the match. In the World Cup final, Zidane was sent off the field for head-butting Matterazi after the latter allegedly provoked him with personal remarks.

"What Zidane did was wrong, but Materazzi also was not completely in the right," Dhoni wrote in his column for the Hindustan Times. "Harbhajan is a very aggressive cricketer who plays hard and is there for his team-mates whenever they need him. Even Sreesanth has seen this supportive side of Harbhajan in the Indian dressing room. Sreesanth is also a very aggressive cricketer who likes to express his highs and lows very passionately on the cricket field. Off the field, you will not meet a more soft-spoken guy than Sree."

Dhoni was happy to know the two players had sorted things out between themselves and said the incident was unlikely to have any effect on the Indian dressing room.

"The incident ... was unfortunate because I know both of them, and they are not bad guys at all. Everybody is passing judgment based on what is reported in the newspapers, and I am too far from the scene to actually comment on it."

© Cricinfo

Add to del.icio.us | digg this | Stumble It What's this? If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content on cricket, you may use these buttons. When you add them to any of these sites, you "social bookmark" them for others to find and rate. More on del.icio.us>> More on digg>> More on stumbleupon>> Close

NEW: West Indies v Australia fantasy cricket game Enter your teams here Live scores, results, news, features and more - just a click away Download the Cricinfo Toolbar Cricinfo on the go - our mobile services WAP, Genie and Mobicast

Stories

Harbhajan and Sreesanth in row

Harbhajan asked to explain case by April 28

Harbhajan suspended temporarily

A time bomb waiting to go off

BCCI raps umpire Saheba for remarks on Sreesanth

BCCI to probe deeper into incident

Harbhajan banned for rest of IPL season

Harbhajan faces minimum ten-match ban

Players/Umpires

MS Dhoni

Harbhajan Singh

Sreesanth

Series/Tournaments

Indian Premier League

Teams

India