Harbhajan Singh accused ex-Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi of "selfish motive", days after he released the video of the former spinner slapping S Sreesanth in the inaugural edition of IPL. He added that the incident took place almost two decades ago and people had forgotten about it until they were reminded of it again by Modi.
Modi revealed the never-seen-before footage in his appearance on Michael Clarke's Beyond23 Podcast, which took place after a league encounter between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab).
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In the footage, Harbhajan can be seen slapping Sreesanth with the back of his hand as the players were engaged in post-match ritual. The physical altercation left the Kerala pacer in tears and was seen being consoled by Mahela Jayawardene. However, Harbhajan was not done as he once again approached the pacer angrily before the situation was diffused by Irfan Pathan and Jayawardene.
Harbhajan then was Mumbai's captain and his team had endured a 66-run loss to Punjab. Jayawardene then led Punjab and Pathan and Sreesanth too played for Punjab.
Harbhajan didn't mince any words reacting to the footage. "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 made one too. I have requested Lord Ganesh to forgive me if I make a mistake again.
"But 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.
"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.
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