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Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has lashed out at former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi for releasing the video of the unfortunate slapgate video from the inaugural season. Modi released the video during an interview with former Australia captain Michael Clarke. Many at that time agreed to keep the video under the wraps but the newly-released footage showed former Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Harbhajan Singh slapping former Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) pacer S Sreesanth. Harbhajan said that Modi may have released the 17-year-old video under the influence of alcohol.
“Honestly, I didn’t understand why there was a need to make it public. I really don’t understand the motive behind that. I feel it would have been better if it hadn’t come out because there was no need for it. I don’t know what he was thinking when he released the video—maybe he was under the influence of alcohol or just messing around. If I were in their place, I wouldn’t have let any such video come out like that," Harbhajan told ANI.
Harbhajan and Sreesanth were part of India's T20 World Cup 2007 and ODI World Cup 2011-winning squad. The veteran off-spinner said that he has apologised to his former teammate several times and Modi had no right to reopen old wounds.
"Everyone thinks differently. What happened was wrong, and I have already apologised for it. What happened between me and Sreesanth at that time was not right. As a sportsman, I don’t think I should have done that. People learn from their mistakes, and if I had enough understanding back then, I wouldn’t have done it," Harbhajan added.
Why the slapgate video remained hidden for 17 years?
Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle who was part of the broadcasting team during the IPL 2008, said that it was a unanimous decision to not release the video as it would have meant bad publicity for the inaugural season of the cash-rich T20 league.
“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 had posted on X.
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