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The former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi opened up old wounds when he released the unseen footage of Harbhajan Singh slapping S Sreesanth during the inaugural season of the T20 league. While Sreesanth’s wife slammed Modi and former Australia captain Michael Clarke for releasing the video for his personal gain, the two cricketers involved in the incident did not respond immediately. Days later, Harbhajan has reacted to the video, saying that there might be a ‘selfish motive’ behind leaking the 17-year-old video.
“The way the video has been leaked, it's wrong. It shouldn't have happened. They might have a selfish motive behind it. Something that happened 18 years ago, people have forgotten, and they are reminding people about it,” Harbhajan told Instant Bollywood as he attended the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations.
“I feel bad for whatever happened. We were playing, and everyone had things going on in their mind. Mistakes happened, and we do feel ashamed about it,” he added.
Harbhajan acknowledged the video has gone viral on social media but asked for forgiveness.
“Yes, the video has gone viral. It was an unfortunate incident, and I have said on many occasions that I made a mistake. Humans make mistakes, and I did one too. I have requested Lord Ganesh to forgive me if I make a mistake again. Mistakes happen,” said the legendary off-spinner.
When Sreesanth’s daughter refused to talk to Harbhajan
Earlier this year, in a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan said that the slapgate is the biggest regret of his career. He revealed that he was on the verge of tears when Sreesanth's daughter refused to talk to him.
“One thing I'd want to change in my life is that incident with Sreesanth. I want to remove that incident from my career. That is the incident I would change from my list. What transpired was wrong and I shouldn't have done what I did. I apologised 200 times. What I felt so bad was even years after that incident, I have been apologising every opportunity or stage I get. It was a mistake,” said Harbhajan on Kutti Stories with Ash.
“What hurt me even after many years was when I met his daughter and I was talking to her with a lot of love and she said, ‘I don't want to talk to you. You hit my father.' My heart was shattered and I was on the verge of tears. I was asking myself what is the impression I've left on her? She must be thinking of me in a poor light, right? She sees me as the guy who hit her father. I felt so bad. I still apologise to his daughter that I can't do anything,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sreesanth is yet to make an official statement in response to the video.
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