IPL 20-20 Cricket

BCCI-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati, who is probing the slap-row involving S Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh, said on Saturday that he would submit his report on Tuesday instead of Monday.

"Earlier, I was going to submit my report on Monday, but now I have decided to do it on Tuesday," Nanavati, who is probing the Sreesanth-Harbhajan episode, said.

"Change of date is due to busy schedule on Monday. I have to appear for some cases in the Gujarat High Court," Nanavati, who is an senior advocate, said, adding that the stipulated time of 15 days given to him to complete the inquiry also ends on Tuesday.

He also said he would not recommend any type of punishment to the players in his report."I will not recommend any sort of punishment to the players as I have been appointed to inquire about the incident under rule 32 of the BCCI," he said.

"I will have to submit my report on the incident to the Board President and he will forward it to the disciplinary committee which will decide about the quantum of punishment to be given to the person who is found guilty," Nanavati said adding that "it is upto them... they can even let off a person."

"This is a level four offence and if a player is found guilty the quantum of sentence is ban on playing large number of matches or even for life time. Mohammad Azharauddin and Ajay Jadeja are facing life time ban," said Nanavati in a reply to a question on what punishement a player can get if he is found guilty.

"I have completed hearing and viewing of video footage. I am in the process of writing my report which will be completed by Sunday," Nanavati added.

"I will submit my report to the Board officials on Tuesday in Mumbai," he further said.

Nanavati had summoned Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth on Friday to Ahmedabad and conducted the hearing in presence of BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah.

After the hearing was over he had said that he was satisfied with the answers given by both the players.

Mumbai Indian's stand-in skipper Harbhajan had slapped Kings XI Punjab's pacer Sreesanth after the April 25 Indian Premier League match in Mohali, which saw the off-spinner being banned from the remainder of the IPL, apart from losing nearly Rs 3 crore of match fee.

BCCI had also issued a showcause notice to Harbhajan before appointing Nanavati to probe the incident.