Indian batsman Gambhir handed one-test ban

Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir was handed a one-test ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee on Friday for breaching the spirit of the game in the third test against Australia.

Gambhir, 27, was found guilty after he was charged for elbowing Australian all rounder Shane Watson while taking a run on the first day of the test on Wednesday, an ICC release said.

Both players were summoned for a hearing by match referee Chris Broad on Thursday, where Gambhir pleaded guilty and Watson was fined 10 percent of his match fee.

Gambhir had faced a penalty ranging between a fine of 50 percent to his full match fee and/or a maximum ban of one test or two one-dayers, with a right to appeal within 24 hours.

He would miss the fourth and final test starting in Nagpur on Nov. 6, the ICC release added.

However, the Indian cricket board said in a statement the player would lodge an appeal against the decision.

The batsman top-scored with 206 for his second consecutive hundred following his 104 in the second test in Mohali.

"The decision to find Gambhir guilty of a (rule C1) level 2 offence is indicative of the fact that any degree of physical contact is unacceptable," Broad said in an ICC release.

He escaped a harsher ban of a minimum of two tests for a second offence within a year, having been fined 65 percent of his match fee for clashing with Shahid Afridi in a one-dayer against Pakistan last November.

Broad said the lightness of his contact with Watson and the provocation of the Australian player helped Gambhir's cause. He is the second Indian player to be penalised in the series which has witnessed a series of verbal exchanges between players from both teams.

Paceman Zaheer Khan was fined 80 percent of his match fee in Mohali after his verbal send-off to Australian opener Matthew Hayden was walking back to the pavilion after his dismissal.