South Africa: In an unprecedented and highly controversial action, match referee Mike Denness found master batsman Sachin Tendulkar guilty of ball tampering and handed him a Test match suspension. Five players, including skipper Sourav Ganguly, were punished for excessive appealing.
Sachin Tendulkar, a part time bowler, was found guilty of tampering with the ball and was handed a suspended one-match sentence and fined 75 per cent of his match-fee. He will be able to play in the third Test but would be banned for one match if he repeats the offence.
A key batsman Virender Sehwag was suspended for the third Test to be played at Centurion Park from November 24 on the charge of excessive appealing. This means that Sehwag, who made a century on his debut in the first Test against South Africa, will miss the final match of the series.
Former England captain Mike Denness, who is the match referee for the entire series, is believed to have conveyed these decisions to the Indian team management Monday evening after two meetings with Sachin Tendulkar who had been accused of tampering with the ball during a three-over spell against South Africa Sunday.
Denness summoned Ganguly, who was accused of failing to control his players, as also four other Indian players - Sehwag, Harhajan Singh, Shiv Sunder Das and wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta - on the charge of excessive appealing.
Denness, who consulted ICC headquarters in London during the day, is expected to formally announce his decisions Tuesday but sources in the Indian camp disclosed the unprecedented sentences imposed by him.
Ganguly was given a suspended sentence for one Test match and two one-dayers. He is therefore eligible to play but could be banned for these matches if he repeated the offence of not controlling his players.
Harbhajan, Das and Dasgupta have also been found guilty of excessive appealing and slammed with a suspended sentence of one Test each. They have also been fined 75 per cent of their match fees.

Sehwag, who was the worst-hit by the match-referee`s action, was found guilty of excessive appealing when South African captain Shaun Pollock played forward to spinner Anil Kumble during the play Sunday. Sehwag had caught the ball which apparently came off Pollock`s boots and had kept appealing for a catch.
Denness ignored pollock`s own conduct Sunday when he made a prolonged and theatrical appeal against the top-scorer in India`s first innings V V S Laxman. Pollock had hit Laxman`s pads and made a vociferous appeal to the umpire who took a long time to raise his finger.
The Indian team management was not available for comment on the match referee`s excesses but a wave of anger swept the Indian camp.
The reported decision of the referee came at the end of a flip-flop earlier in the day. He had apparently told a television commentator that no action was warranted against Tendulkar and this was announced on television. Subsequently he said he would consult ICC in London and make a formal statement in the evening. Bureau Report