Harbhajan has lost respect amongst Proteas: Arthur

New Delhi, Apr 29 (UNI) A day after the Indian Premier League (IPL) banned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for slapping Sreesanth, South African coach Mickey Arthur said his team lost a lot of respect for the bowler during the recently concluded Test series.

Arthur said Harbhajan had apologised to Ashwell Prince, the South African batsman, for abusing him during the third Test of the series in Kanpur last month.

''There was an incident in Kanpur. There was a hearing by the match referee (Roshan Mahanama) during which Harbhajan apologised to Prince,''Arthur told Cricinfo.

''It was settled and we were happy with the apology. I am not 100 per cent sure what was said. But Ashwell felt very strongly about it at that time and that's why we took it up,'' he said.

The South African coach also stated that the Proteas had lost a lot of respect for Sreesanth when he went after AB de Villiers.

''Sreesanth was just Sreesanth. Perhaps our players lost a lot of respect for him on the tour. He constantly abused AB de Villiers and it was very personal. But considering the general spirit in which the series was played, we didn't feel strongly enough to complain,'' he said.

Yesterday, Harbhajan was barred for the rest of the IPL matches after he was found guilty of a level 4.2 offence following his altercation with speedster S Sreesanth.

The IPL also sounded a warning to Kings XI Punjab pace bowler S Sreesanth, who was at the receiving end of off-spinners ire on April 25 at Mohali, in regard to his onfield behaviour and displaying unnecessary aggression.

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