Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen its share of controversies that have marred the league. Over the 15 years, a lot of incidents have taken place which have put the spotlight on the world’s richest cricket league for the wrong reasons.
The first of which happened just a week after the competition started in 2008. After a match between Punjab Kings (Then Kings XI Punjab) and Mumbai Indians at the IS Bindra, Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) saw a major incident between Indian international Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth which is popularly referred to as ‘slapgate.’
15 years down the line, Harbhajan recalled the incident and expressed regret at his actions. “What happened was wrong, it was wrong from my side. I made a mistake. My teammate and I had to face embarrassment. A real man is someone who admits his mistake. If I have to correct one mistake that I made, it was probably that mistake I had with Sreesanth. It should not have happened. If I think about it, I feel there was no need.
“When you are so involved in a game and so emotionally attached, you sometimes don’t realize how you react. Nobody is perfect. We all learn. The best thing is you apologise to the other person with a pure heart, you have done your heart. I cannot really change what happened but all I can say it was my mistake and everyone makes mistakes,” said Harbhajan in a video shared by Glancescreen on Twitter.
The fallout of which saw Harbhajan being banned from playing the rest of the season. It is worth noting that it was just MI’s 3rd game of the season and with Sachin Tendulkar injured, Harbhajan was leading the side. Shaun Pollock was named interim skipper following the incident until Sachin returned to action.
Harbhajan and Sreesanth were part of the Indian team that won both the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 Cricket World Cup on home soil.
