The Indian Premier League on Tuesday suspended umpire Amish Saheba for two matches for speaking his mind to a regional newspaper about Kings XI Punjab pacer S. Sreesanth’s on-field behaviour against Mumbai Indians in Mohali on Friday.

Apart from the IPL, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also sought an explanation from Saheba for his comments.

Saheba, who was umpiring the match — when Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth — along with Pakistan’s Aleem Dar, said the Kerala pacer was behaving like a “petulant school boy,” ceaselessly sledging the Mumbai Indians players during the match.

Harbhajan provoked?

“Sreesanth was sledging Mumbai batsmen right from the start. In fact, I along with my colleague Dar twice warned him. We also warned his skipper Yuvraj Singh. Sreesanth was really going over the top,” Saheba said.

"He (Saheba) has been given the show-cause notice because of what he said to the newspaper. He should have reported the matter regarding Sreesanth to the match referee," BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said. "He has been asked to reply to the notice within 48 hours."

Bindra slams umpire

IPL Governing Council member IS Bindra also slammed Saheba for his comments in the media and said he should have mentioned it in his report on the match.

Bindra said Saheba had not submitted any report to match referee Farokh Engineer or the IPL on Sreesanth's conduct during the match.

"The umpires are not supposed to give their reports to the media, but there is a set procedure through which they can report to the match referee or IPL," Bindra said.