Harbhajan fined $15,000 after outburst against Suman

Harbhajan Singh, who starred with bat and ball in Mumbai Indians' victory over Deccan Chargers in the IPL fixture in Mumbai, has been fined $15,000 by match referee Gundappa Viswanath for his outburst directed at batsman T Suman after dismissing him.

The sanction was confirmed by IPL chief executive Sundar Raman, through his twitter update shortly after the match. "Harbhajan fined USD 15K by the referee. Found guilty - level one offence. During Suman's dismissal," Raman's twitter-feed read.

Harbhajan was in his element in the match, smashing an 18-ball 49 to lift Mumbai to a good score, and then snaring three wickets to help them defend 172. Suman was dismissed caught and bowled by Harbhajan, after which the bowler gave him an invective-ridden send-off.

Harbhajan later pleaded guilty to a Level 1 offence (Article 2.1.4), which relates to "excessively audible or repetitious swearing", and Viswanath imposed the fine on him. For Level 1 breaches of the IPL Code of Conduct, the IPL match referee's decision is final and binding.

Harbhajan's fine is the first disciplinary action taken on a player during this IPL. During the course of the tournament, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara have been slapped with fines for the failure of their sides to complete their overs on time. Kings XI Punjab emerged as a repeat offender, as a result of which their captain Sangakkara was handed a one-match ban.