Why did Lalit Modi choose to hide the Harbhajan Singh-Sreesanth IPL 2008 ‘slapgate’ video for 17 years? Revealed

The infamous IPL 2008 'slapgate' incident between Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth became fresh in the memories of the Indian cricket fans once again after former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi shared the unseen footage in a podcast recently. One of the darkest incidents in the history of the IPL, then Mumbai Indians cricketer Harbhajan Singh had slapped Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) pacer Sreesanth at the end of the game in Mohali on the night of April 25.

While no video of the incident came out in public, an image of Sreesanth crying uncontrollably dominated the media space for all these years. While Harbhajan was suspended for the remainder of the season and also got a five-ODI ban from BCCI as a part of punishment, the former India off-spinner had time and again apologized to Sreesanth and his family.

At a time when both the cricketers and their families have moved on from the incident, Modi's video has once again complicated things. However, one question that came up in everyone's mind was why the video was hidden for close to two decades?

According to cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, the video was kept hidden to save the image of the IPL, which was at his nascent stage at that point of time. Making the video public would have had a negative impact on the league.

“Interesting that the Harbhajan-Sreesanth video has found its way out after 17 years. Very few of us had seen it and we had given our word that it would stay out of the public domain because the IPL was in its first year and it wouldn't have been the best bit of news for it,” Bhogle wrote on X.

Why only Lalit Modi had IPL 2008 slapgate video? According to Modi, the video was captured by one of his security cameras since the broadcasting cameras had been shut off following the game. “As players were exchanging handshakes, Bhajji just looked at Sreesanth, said something, and gave him a backhander. That's what the footage shows. I've had it for 18 years,” Modi said at Beyond23 Cricket Podcast with former Australian captain Michael Clarke.

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