Ball-tampering: 'Wow ICC wow, different people different rules,' tweets miffed Harbhajan Singh

"No ban for Bancroft with all the evidences whereas 6 of us were banned for excessive appealing in South Africa 2001 without any evidence and Remember Sydney 2008?" Harbhajan tweeted.

File photo of Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh (PTI)

New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday banned Australia captain Steve Smith for a Test and fined him 100 percent of his match fee for conspiring with his team's "leadership group" in ball-tampering during the third Test against South Africa. But Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh accused the ICC of double standards in handing out punishments. 

Smith admitted that opening batsman Cameron Bancroft acted on instructions as the latter used a foreign substance while attempting to change the condition of the ball during the third day's play. 

The incident, after being caught on camera, was reported to the on-field umpires, who then confronted Bancroft and Smith. But the umpires didn't find the ball's condition altered so that it is required to be changed. 

However, the stunning revelation came when Smith, in a press conference with Bancroft, admitted that he deliberately planned ball-tampering to get an edge in the Test match.

wow @ICC wow. Great treatment nd FairPlay. No ban for Bancroft with all the evidences whereas 6 of us were banned for excessive appealing in South Africa 2001 without any evidence and Remember Sydney 2008? Not found guilty and banned for 3 matches.different people different rules

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 25, 2018

Smith and his deputy David Warner then stepped down from their respective leadership roles before the start of fourth day's play as Cricket Australia launched an investigation into the incident. 

However, the punishment handed out by the ICC to Smith and Bancroft was considered not enough by many, including Harbhajan who cited incidents from India's 2001 tour of South Africa and the 2008 'Monkeygate' in Australia. 

"wow @ICC wow. Great treatment nd FairPlay. No ban for Bancroft with all the evidences whereas 6 of us were banned for excessive appealing in South Africa 2001 without any evidence and Remember Sydney 2008? Not found guilty and banned for 3 matches.different people different rules," a miffed Harbhajan tweeted. 

“The decision made by the leadership group of the Australian team to act in this way is clearly contrary to the spirit of the game, risks causing significant damage to the integrity of the match, the players and the sport itself and is, therefore, ‘serious’ in nature. As captain, Steve Smith must take full responsibility for the actions of his players and it is appropriate that he be suspended,” ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said while announcing ICC's decision.