Sadly, the investigator had made public his views on the incident long before he had heard Harbhajan or Sreesanth. He had told people what he saw in the footage of the incident, which in itself violated the confidentiality that had been asked of everyone, and he told journalists what he thought of Harbhajan’s conduct. Surely, Harbhajan would be entitled to ask if he could get a fair trial from someone whose mind was made up. To my mind the conduct of the investigator was inappropriate, nobody needs to rush before the cameras all the time, but I do not hear a single statement from the BCCI about it. Why, the morning after he appeared on national television proudly displaying his report, extracts from it were already in the newspaper.

This system of leaking confidential information is a hallmark of the BCCI. Everybody knows who does it but presumably that is not improper conduct. So players are not allowed to speak to the media, they are not allowed to release confidential information but BCCI officials are allowed to do both. Tell me if it seems right to you.

That is why we need to embrace accountability and that is why those that sit in judgement must have the stature to do so.

(Commentator Harsha Bhogle is an advisor for the Mumbai IPL team)