Follow UsThe Slapgate incident from the first year of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was all shut down for the last several years. There were discussions about it being wrong, and apologies were made by former India bowler Harbhajan Singh for slapping fellow India pacer S Sreesanth during the Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians match at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
However, the video footage of the slap was never seen, even during the time the incident became public. But after 18 years, former IPL chairperson Lalit Modi uploaded the private footage on former Australia captain Michael Clarke’s podcast.
Since then, several commentators, former cricketers and Sreesanth’s wife have termed the resurfacing as immoral and ugly. For the first time, Harbhajan reacted to it and called the motives of both Clarke and Modi selfish.
“The way the video has resurfaced, that’s very wrong. Maybe they have some selfish motive for doing that. Because of something that happened 18 years ago, people have forgotten, and they are reminding people about it,” the Indian Express quoted Singh as saying to Instant Bollywood.
“So I feel bad for whatever incident that happened during that time. Because we were playing, and everyone had things going on in their mind. Mistakes happened, and I do feel ashamed about them,” added the Turbantor.
Apart from several public apologies, most recently, Harbhajan apologised on fellow Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel.