“They have some selfish motive” - Harbhajan Singh reacts to Lalit Modi unveiling IPL 2008 slapgate footage

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Harbhajan Singh has finally opened up on IPL founder and former chairman Lalit Modi, unveiling the IPL 2008 slapgate incident footage after almost close to two decades.

While speaking exclusively on the Beyond23 Podcast alongside the former Australian captain Michael Clarke, the former unveiled the footage for the first time. However, Bhajji termed it as a selfish motive.

“The way the video has resurfaced, that’s very wrong. I believe nobody should do that. Maybe they have some selfish motive in doing that. Because something that happened 18 years ago, people have forgotten, and they are reminding people about it. So I feel bad for whatever incident that happened during that time. Because, we were playing and we were playing, and everyone had things going on in their mind. Mistakes happened, and I do feel ashamed about it,” Singh told Instant Bollywood in Mumbai.

Furthermore, the former Mumbai Indians cricketer also termed the incident as unfortunate, and he added that he talked about the incident on various stages and admitted that it was his mistake.

“Yes, the video has gone viral. It was an unfortunate incident and I have spoken about it on various stages that it was a mistake. Humans make mistakes, and I did one too. And I have accepted that mistake at every stage. I have come here to Lord Ganesha and I have requested Lord Ganesh to forgive me if I make a mistake again,” he added.

In the footage, Harbhajan can be seen delivering a back-handed slap to Sreesanth during the post-match handshake ritual. The physical altercation left Sreesanth in tears and was seen being consoled by Mahela Jayawardene.

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