Sreesanth: "Hard luck, you're going to lose now" © AFP

Sreesanth, India's fast bowler, has denied clapping in the face of Andrew Symonds after he was dismissed in the fourth one-day match on Monday. Sreesanth, a 12th man in Chandigarh, reportedly had to be calmed down by Stuart Clark, who was also running the drinks, when Symonds was approached between the field and the entry to the dressing room.

Sreesanth has had an eventful series after targeting the Australians with his strange behaviour and he apparently continued to argue with Symonds and his team-mates after the eight-run loss. Despite not playing, Sreesanth went to Symonds as he walked off with 75 and observers said he clapped in the batsman's face.

"I said to him: 'Hard luck, you're going to lose now," Sreesanth said in the Australian. "That's all." Both the Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald reported the bizarre actions that continued an ugly series, which has its fifth game at Vadodara on Thursday.

However, neither Chris Broad, the match referee, or Lalchand Rajput, India's manager, were aware of the Sreesanth-Symonds incident. Rajput said Sreesanth had been talked to about his behaviour in the early part of the series.

"He was told that he has been playing international cricket for long enough now that he should know what is right and wrong," he told the Herald. Both players also had an on-field argument during the second match in Kochi when Sreesanth tried to run-out Symonds after he had gone to speak with Brad Haddin.