Unseen video of Harbhajan-Sreesanth slapgate after 18 years

The infamous ‘Slapgate’ incident from the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008 has resurfaced after 18 years, with IPL founder and former chairman Lalit Modi releasing the raw, unseen footage.During a match between the Mumbai Indians and the Kings XI Punjab, Harbhajan Singh, then captaining MI, slapped pacer S Sreesanth. This episode instantly became one of cricket’s most controversial flashpoints. While the incident was widely reported at the time, the actual visuals had never been made public—until now.

Speaking on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast hosted by World Cup-winning Australian captain Michael Clarke, Modi revealed that a private security camera captured the altercation. “The game was over, the broadcast cameras were off. One of my security cameras caught the incident. Bhajji (Harbhajan) just gave him a back-hander. Here’s the video,” Modi said, before airing the long-hidden clip.

He further explained his decision to wait nearly two decades before sharing the footage: “I hadn’t put it out for so long. We have 18 years behind us for this.”

The video release comes months after Harbhajan himself publicly apologised for the incident. In a conversation with fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan said, “If there’s one thing I could change in my career, it would be that incident with Sreesanth. It was wrong, and I apologised countless times. Even years later, I still keep apologising whenever it comes up. It was a mistake.”

Although the IPL has since grown into cricket’s most lucrative and celebrated league, the resurfacing of the slapgate video is a stark reminder of its turbulent early years, where controversy and passion collided on and off the field.