Seventeen years later, the unseen Harbhajan-Sreesanth slapgate video finally comes out, reigniting IPL’s first major controversy.
Seventeen years on, the clip that IPL fans never saw is finally out. Lalit Modi played the security-camera footage on Michael Clarke’s Beyond23 podcast, saying he had held it back for years. The video shows what the broadcast missed that night.
In the handshake line, Harbhajan Singh pulls Sreesanth close and lands a backhand slap. Sreesanth charges back, tempers rise, and Irfan Pathan with Mahela Jayawardene grab him as others swarm in. Harbhajan points toward the boundary, like meet me there. Chaotic seconds.
This was April 25, 2008, in Mohali, after the Mumbai Indians lost to Kings XI Punjab by 66 runs. Cameras had cut away, which is why only the aftermath aired that night. The niggle came from earlier exchanges in the chase and a cheeky “hard luck”, according to accounts from that game. It wasn’t just words. Sreesanth had dismissed Shaun Pollock and celebrated in his face, then had a running spat with Robin Uthappa. By the time Punjab wrapped up the game, tensions were already on the edge.
The fallout was swift in 2008. Harbhajan was banned for the rest of the IPL season, 11 matches, and later received a five-ODI sanction from the BCCI. Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh called the act ugly and unacceptable at the time. Even Sachin Tendulkar, then Mumbai’s icon player, admitted the episode left the dressing room shaken. Sreesanth, meanwhile, said later that he never held a grudge, though his tears told another story that night.
Regret has followed for years. Harbhajan has said on multiple platforms that he wishes he could erase the incident, even recalling a tough exchange with Sreesanth’s daughter, who told him he had hit her father. That memory still stings. He admitted he has apologised to Sreesanth “200 times” in private and in public, yet still feels the weight of that moment.
The two men have since moved on. They’ve appeared together on TV shows, laughed about old times, and even shared commentary panels. Still, the release of this tape brings it all rushing back. Not just the slap, but the birth of controversy in the IPL. A reminder that the league’s very first season was never just about cricket.
