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Former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi rubbed salt on 17-year-old wound as he released the video of Harbhajan Singh slapping S Sreesanth during the inaugural edition of the cash-rich league. Sreesanth’s wife, Bhuvneshwari slammed Modi for being insensitive and stirring up controversy for his own personal game. But, Modi is baffled by Buvneshwari's reaction and said that Sreesanth is the victim in the incident.
"I don’t know why she (Sreesanth’s wife Bhuvneshwari) is getting angry. I was asked a question, and I shared the truth. I can’t do anything about that. I am known to speak the truth. Sree was the victim, and that’s exactly what I said. No one had asked me this question earlier, so when Clarke quipped, I responded," Modi told IANS.
What Sreesanth’s wife said about the video
Bhuvneshwari had said that both Sreesanth and Harbhajan have moved on from the infamous incident and now they are fathers of school-going children. There was no need to release the video now.
"Shame on you @lalitkmodi and @michaelclarkeofficial. Both @sreesanthnair36 and Harbhajan have long moved on in life and are fathers now with school-going children, and yet you try to throw them back into an old wound," she wrote.
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She further wrote that it is not just the players but their families who were hurt by the release of video.
"@sreesanthnair36 has rebuilt his life with dignity and grace after every hardship he faced. Families are being forced to relive trauma that was buried decades ago. This doesn’t just hurt the players; it scars their innocent children who now have to face questions and shame for no fault of theirs," she added.
Harsha Bhogle on why the video wasn’t made public in 2008
Reacting to the video, veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle said that the footage remained unreleased for nearly two decades as it would have shown IPL in bad light in its inaugural season.
"Interesting that the Harbhajan-Sreesanth video has found its way out after 17 years. Very few of us had seen it and we had given our word that it would stay out of the public domain because the IPL was in its first year and it wouldn't have been the best bit of news for it," Bhogle posted on X.
No reaction from Harbhajan, Sreesanth
Harbhajan and Sreesanth are yet to respond to the released video. In the inaugural edition, Harbhajan was banned for 11 games. In a recent podcast, the off-spinner had revealed that the slapgate was his cricket career’s biggest regret.
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