After a 17-year silence, the infamous ‘slapgate’ video has been made public, drawing the ire of Harbhajan Singh. The former cricketer accuses Lalit Modi of having a “selfish motive” for releasing the clip, calling the act “wrong.”
September 1, 2025: Harbhajan Singh, a former Indian cricketer, has fiercely criticized Lalit Modi, the former IPL commissioner, for sharing a video of the infamous “slapgate” event between him and S Sreesanth that had never been seen before.
Modi put the video on a YouTube account not long ago, after it had been kept hidden for more than 17 years. This led to one of the biggest scandals in Indian cricket history.
In a recent interview, Harbhajan didn’t hold back when he said that Modi had a “selfish motive” for putting out the film. “The way the video got out is not right. It shouldn’t have happened. They could be doing it to help themselves. “People have forgotten about something that happened 18 years ago, and they are reminding them about it,” Harbhajan said.
During the first season of the IPL in 2008, Harbhajan, who was then the captain of the Mumbai Indians, hit Sreesanth after a game against the Punjab Kings. Lalit Modi alleged that a private security camera filmed the fight, even though official broadcasters didn’t show it.
Harbhajan, who was banned for 11 games because of what happened, reiterated again that he was sorry, saying, “I feel bad for what happened.” We were playing, and everyone had things on their thoughts. We messed up, and we’re sorry about it. He also added that he has spoken sorry several times for his “mistake.”
Just a few days before Harbhajan’s comments, Sreesanth’s wife Bhuvneshwari also attacked Modi on social media for “dragging up old wounds” and creating “deep pain” to both families, who had already moved on from the incident. Lalit Modi has defended his choice by saying that when challenged about it on a podcast, he was only “speaking the truth.”