The “slapgate” incident was one of the tournament’s negative highlights. After a game at Mohali, Harbhajan Singh, the captain of the Mumbai Indians, knocked the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) pacer Sreesanth to tears with a smack, earning him a tournament-long ban.
Harbhajan presently represents the AAP as an MP, analyst, and commentator. India will always remember Harbhajan’s contributions to cricket history, as he was one of the greatest players of his era. Singh reminisced about the moment he was almost to cry when his former teammate, Sreesanth’s daughter, refused to speak to him in a recent interview.
What did Harbhajan say?
Harbhajan Singh recalled that he had sorry for his behaviour on a number of occasions and on a variety of platforms, but that the episode still haunted him at a recent discussion show with Ashwin. Even though he and Sreesanth have moved past the vile incident and are again on good terms, Harbhajan revealed an incident involving Sreesanth’s daughter that made him feel guilty. I was talking to his daughter with a lot of affection when she responded, ‘I don’t want to talk to you.That still hurts me after all these years. You struck my dad. What impression did I leave on her? My heart was broken. She believes that I struck her father. I felt awful.’
“With Sreesanth, that is one aspect of my life that I would like to change. I shouldn’t have done what I did, and what transpired was wrong. I said I was sorry 200 times. Years have passed since that incident, but I still apologise whenever I have the chance. It was an error.”
“Yes, we were rivals in that game. However, it shouldn’t have escalated to the point where we act in this way. Yes, I was at fault, and his only mistake was to provoke me, but that’s actually acceptable. But what I did wasn’t acceptable. I apologised.” Harbhajan on Kutty Story, Ashwin’s show.
Sreesanth played for Kings XI Punjab in the first season of the IPL, while Harbhajan Singh was with the Mumbai Indians. When Harbhajan hit Sreesanth during a match that Punjab won, the players’ hands were shaking. Harbhajan was barred from the remainder of the competition, while Sreesanth was observed sobbing. It was unknown why Harbhajan had smacked him. It was later discovered that he had been provoked by Sreesanth.
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