Lalit Modi drops Harbhajan–Sreesanth slap video from IPL 2008 – Watch now

A shocking video from the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has come back into the spotlight. Former IPL chairman and founder Lalit Modi has released the never-before-seen footage of the controversial 'slapgate' incident between Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth that happened during IPL 2008. The incident took place after a match between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Punjab Kings (erstwhile Kings XI Punjab). Harbhajan Singh, who was playing for MI, slapped Sreesanth after the match. While the news of the incident was widely reported back then, the actual video had never been made public.

In a recent episode of the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast hosted by former Australian captain Michael Clarke, Lalit Modi shared the raw footage. He said, “The game was over and the cameras were shut off. One of my security cameras was on. It caught the incident between Sreesanth and Bhajji (Harbhajan). Bhajji just gives him a back-hander.”

Lalit Modi added that he had had the video for 18 years but chose not to release it earlier. Now, it is finally out in public.

The incident had serious consequences for Harbhajan. He was banned for the rest of the 2008 IPL season and later apologised publicly several times. Recently, Harbhajan spoke about the slapgate again and called it the 'biggest mistake' of his career.

“I want to remove that incident from my career. It was wrong. I apologised 200 times,” he said in a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin.

Harbhajan also shared an emotional story about meeting Sreesanth’s daughter years later.

“She said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you. You hit my father.’ My heart broke. That day I felt so bad,” he revealed.