IPL crossing lines

It seems the media hype around the IPL tournament has certainly touched some nerves: while the pretty Amercian cheerleaders keep Indian politicians in check of whether or not they are 'vulgar and obscene', Spinner Harbhajan Singh has been handed an 11-match ban in the Indian Premier League for slapping fellow sportsman Sree Santh.

With major A-list Bollywood stars investing heavily into the IPL and their respective teams, there was indeed no doubt that this tournament would not be only about the game.

Any doubts were indeed removed when the organisers arranged for a glitzy inaugural ceremony that wowed the audiences with stilt walkers, acrobats and a laser show. To round off the wow factor, the entertainment-savvy team behind the games even hired American cheerleaders to give the show, shall we say, a certain amount of sex appeal - this is not to say that sweaty men in dusty cricket gear aren't sexy....

It seems that the short skirts and tops of the blonde American beauties have managed to overheat some tempers and a heated discussion has begun as to whether or not the cheerleaders are dressed indecently. According to reports, the Mumbai Police is now going to watch the cheerleaders closely to make sure that their performances 'do not violate entertainment licences' - what a brilliant idea! Smart move, lads

In the meanwhile tempers are also running high on the field and Spinner Harbhajan Singh has been issued with an 11-match ban after slapping fellow sportsman Sree Santh in a game between Mumbai and Santh's Kings XI Punjab. Even though all eyes and cameras of the cricket world are on the game, no camera actually filmed the incident, but did capture Santh crying.

In a subsequent hearing, Harbhajan Singh, who had been charged in January with racial abuse for calling Australia's Andrew Symonds a 'monkey', expressed regret over his action, but this did not save him from a ban, which ended his involvement in the tournament and the loss of his match fees of around $700,000.

As if this is not enogh, the Board of Control for Cricket in India will take separate action against him and the Mumbai coach Lalchand Rajput was fined 50% of his match fee for not interfering quickly enough.

Following the announcement of Singh's ban from the tournament, Sree Santh and Harbhajan Singh engaged in a public display of reconciliation.

What a circus, eh?

 

Photo of Harbhajan Singh courtesy of crickettfizz.com.