‘I’ve never spoken about him publicly; he made an ad…’: Sreesanth says Harbhajan made 1 cr with ‘slapgate’ advert

New Delhi: Eighteen years after the infamous IPL ‘slapgate’ incident, former India pacer Sreesanth made a scathing attack on ex-spinner Harbhajan Singh, accusing him of making profit from the incident.

Sreesanth comments referred to the recent advertisement for a retail seller, where Harbhajan is yelling at a group of people trying to fix electronic equipment by beating them; “Sahi se thappad lagao, sab theek ho jata hain” (Slap them properly. You can fix everything.)

The former pacer stated that he never spoke about Harbhajan or the incident in any public interview but when the advertisement came out, it infuriated him and he instantly blocked Harbhajan on Instagram.

“I have never spoken about Bhajji in any interview. This is going to be the first time. Until recently there were no problems, but he made an ad about it once again. He made around Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore off it. He then called me and asked me to put a story on it. I told him, ‘I’ll forgive but I’ll never forget’,” Sreesanth told Malayalam news outlet ‘Mathrubhumi’

“If someone wrongs you, you should forgive them but never forget. If you forget, they will do the same thing again. He is the biggest example for that. There is no doubt about that. I have no relationship with that person. I used to call him a brother. But in that last 1 or 2 months he did that ad and now I have blocked him on Instagram,” he added.

“My parents have taught me to forgive but never forget. I don’t have any complaints against him, nor do I need him. May God bless him and his family. In many interviews, even with Ashwin, he talked about my daughter. People will think oh what a great person he is. He might be a great person. But for me from my time playing for India to now, in my opinion, it’s all an act. That act is something Sreesanth doesn’t accept,” said Sreesanth.

Sreesanth was on the receiving end of the infamous ‘Slapgate’ incident in the inaugural 2008 edition of the tournament. During a match between the Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, Harbhajan and Sreesanth got into a heated altercation which ended with the spinner slapping his national team compatriot. The incident caught the media’s attention and sparked widespread criticism of Harbhajan’s behaviour, and he later apologised for the physical altercation. The incident led to a disciplinary hearing and Harbhajan was banned for the rest of the season.

The incident recaptured the public attention last year, when the unseen clip of the infamous incident went viral on social media after former IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi shared it in the public domain during an interview with former Australian captain Michael Clarke on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.

Reacting to this, Harbhajan had told IANS, “Whatever happened 18 years ago, bringing it up again in public, I really don’t understand the motive behind that. I don’t know what he was thinking when he released the video—maybe he was under the influence or just messing around. If I were in his place, I wouldn’t have let any such video come out like that.”

IANS