In a heated altercation during a match between the Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab (now the Punjab Kings), MI captain Harbhajan Singh smacked Punjab pacer S Sreesanth. This incident became notoriously known as “Slapgate.” Although the Indian Premier League (IPL) has become the most lucrative league in cricket, a notorious incident from its 2008 debut has long been a topic of discussion.
Only snippets of the incident were shown for years; the uncut video was never shown during the live broadcast. Lalit Modi, the former chairman and founder of the Indian Premier League, has now made the hidden footage public for the first time. Modi revealed the uncut video of the brawl that rocked the league in its infancy during an interview with Michael Clarke, the captain of Australia that won the World Cup.
“The cameras were turned off after the game. I have a security camera turned on. The exchange between Sreesanth and Bhajji (Harbhajan) was captured on camera, and Bhajji simply gave him the backhand. The video is available here. It had been so long since I had released it. On the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, Lalit stated, “We have eighteen years behind us for this.”
I wish to erase that experience from my professional life: Harbhajan
Even though it has been nearly eighteen years since the infamous Slapgate episode, Harbhajan recently spoke up about it and expressed his profound regret for his conduct. The former India off-spinner acknowledged that the altercation with Sreesanth would be the one incident from his career that he would most definitely want to forget.
“That Sreesanth event is one thing I would like to change in my life. I wish to put that experience out of my professional life. I would remove that incident from my list. I shouldn’t have done what I did, and what happened was terrible. I said I was sorry 200 times. I felt terrible since, even years after the occurrence, I have apologised at every chance I got. “It was an error,” Harbhajan had stated on R Ashwin’s Kutti Stories YouTube channel.
I was talking to his daughter with a lot of affection when she responded, ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’ That still hurts me after all these years. You struck my dad. I was about to cry because my heart was broken. What impression have I made on her, I asked myself? I assume she has a negative opinion of me. She believes that I struck her father. I felt awful. I’m still sorry to his daughter,” he continued.
India
