BANGALORE, April 29: Just a day after the Indian Premier League (IPL) banned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for slapping paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, the conduct of both players has been termed objectionable by South African coach Mickey Arthur too.

Arthur said that both the players had attitude problems during the recent series South Africa played in India.

“Harbhajan had to apologise to (South African batsman) Ashwell Prince for abusing him during the third Test match in Kanpur in March and the South Africans “lost a lot of respect for Sreesanth” when he went after A.B. de Villiers,” Arthur said.

When asked to comment on the latest slapping ban incident at the IPL, Arthur responded he was not surprised, saying: “When there are two such volatile players on the field, anything can happen.”

Harbhajan was banned on Monday from the first season of the IPL after match referee Farokh Engineer found him guilty of slapping Sreesanth after an IPL game in Mohali on Friday.

The BCCI has started a separate investigation into the incident.

Arthur expressed the nice spirit with which the India series was played.

“At the end of the day, we are not squealers,” he stated. “We strongly believe that what happens on the field stays on it.

“Besides, we were very happy with the general spirit in which the series was played in, and we left with very pleasant memories of the tour, especially the cricket that was played.”

However, he divulged that the behaviour of Harbhajan and Sreesanth during the India series “was not great”, adding that the South Africans took up the Kanpur incident as Prince felt very strongly about it.

“There was an incident in Kanpur. There was a hearing by the match referee (Roshan Mahanama) during which Harbhajan apologised to Prince. It was settled and we were happy with the apology. I am not 100 per cent sure what was said.

“But Ashwell felt very strongly about it at that time and that’s why we took it up,” Arthur said.

“Sreesanth was just Sreesanth. Perhaps our players lost a lot of respect for him on the tour.

“He constantly abused A.B. de Villiers and it was very personal. But considering the general spirit in which the series was played, we didn’t feel strongly enough to complain,” he said.

South Africa’s three-Test tour of India ended in a 1-1 draw after the visitors won the second Test in Ahmedabad by an innings and 90 runs before India fought back to level the series in Kanpur.—Agencies