On August 29, Modi, who was the chairman and commissioner of the IPL at that time, shared the clip of the incident from IPL 2008 between Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth during an interview with former Australian captain Michael Clarke on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I didn't understand why there was a need to make it public. Everyone thinks differently. Whatever happened was wrong, and I have already apologised for it. What happened between me and Sreesanth at that time was not right. As a sportsman, I don't think I should have done that. People learn from their mistakes, and if I had enough understanding back then, I wouldn\u2019t have done it,\" Harbhajan told IANS. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
According to a video shared by Modi that later went viral on social media, then-Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan struck Sreesanth with a backhanded slap under the eye during the post-match handshake between the two teams. The incident provoked an angry reaction from Sreesanth, who charged toward Harbhajan, prompting a similar response from the spinner. A physical brawl was narrowly avoided as Irfan Pathan and Mahela Jayawardene quickly intervened to separate the two players.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The shocking 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 BCCI later banned the spinner for five ODIs for slapping Sreesanth.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
According to a video shared by Modi that later went viral on social media, then-Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan struck Sreesanth with a backhanded slap under the eye during the post-match handshake between the two teams. The incident provoked an angry reaction from Sreesanth, who charged toward Harbhajan, prompting a similar response from the spinner. A physical brawl was narrowly avoided as Irfan Pathan and Mahela Jayawardene quickly intervened to separate the two players.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"Whatever happened 18 years ago, bringing it up again in public\u2014I really don\u2019t understand the motive behind that. I feel it would have been better if it hadn\u2019t come out because there was no need for it. I don\u2019t know what they were thinking when they released the video\u2014maybe they were under the influence or just messing around. If I were in their place, I wouldn\u2019t have let any such video come out like that,\" he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n