South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock [ Images ] was on Sunday named captain of Mumbai Indians [ Images ] following Harbhajan Singh's [ Images ] suspension from Indian Premier League [ Images ] matches for slapping pacer S Sreesanth [ Images ].

The decision to appoint the experienced Pollock as the skipper was taken after a meeting of the team management and top officials of the franchise owned by Mukesh Ambani [ Images ].

Pollock, a former South African captain will lead the team till Sachin Tendulkar [ Images ] recovers from a groin injury.

Harbhajan, who was the stand-in captain in the absence of Tendulkar, was temporarily suspended from IPL matches for slapping Sreesanth after Mumbai Indians had crashed to their third successive defeat in the Twenty20 [ Images ] league in Mohali on Friday.

The Cricket Board, under whose jurisdiction the IPL functions as a sub-committee, had already slapped a show-cause notice on the off-spinner asking him to explain his conduct by Monday.

Harbhajan will also appear before Match Referee Farokh Engineer for a disciplinary hearing in Delhi [ Images ] tomorrow.