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

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.

Pollock, a former South African captain will lead the team till Sachin Tendulkar  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 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 tomorrow.