"Didn't Cry Because Of Pain But…": Sreesanth Recalls 'Slapgate' Incident

S Sreesanth has once again opened up about the infamous ‘slapgate’ incident from the inaugural season of Indian Premier League in 2008. It is worth noting that then Kings XI Punjab pacer Sreesanth and former Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh had a heated altercation during a match between the two sides. Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth and the latter ended up crying. The action saw Harbhajan facing a ban from the rest of the tournament in that edition. While speaking on ‘The Ranveer Show‘, Sreesanth said that he didn’t cry because of the pain but the bond he has had with Harbhajan.

“If you look at it, it was a 30-second video or something but media showed it as if…,” said Sreesanth before the host added that it became the biggest IPL news. “Yeah, yeah. Unbelievable. So I will say Bhajji pa. Even now I address him as ‘Bhajji pa’ and he is somebody who is always… Whenever I had any important spell or something I was not doing well I used to go and hug Bhajji pa. And somehow it is the vibration or maybe the positivity which paaji has got, I always used to get the performance out.

“So when that incident happened, I was shocked. I didn’t cry because of pain but because of heart. I could not take the fact that he would do it and I was not worried about who was watching. So maybe the kid in me as a younger brother, if an elder brother was shouting, and he had all the right because before the game he had actually told me that don’t go overboard with your aggression against us.”

Sreesanth also made a huge revelation about his time with the national team.

“All my life I have been…. I can say it. See anything below Bombay was more like Madrasi. I have been hearing it from the time I was playing Under-13 to Under-14 to Under-16 to Under-19. Then we had the Kochi (Tuskers Kerala) team and it was like playing for the country again,” he said.