Indian Premier League (IPL) is generally in the news for the enormous value attached to the league. Usually, IPL stoles the limelight for shaping careers for various individuals and the kind of competitiveness that is on display in every IPL edition. However, there have been times when the league has coped a fair share of criticism with infamous controversies.
One such incident occurred in the inaugural edition of the league in a game between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians at PCA Stadium in Mohali. While Harbhajan Singh was at the heart of the awful incident involving Sreesanth, the Indian off-spinner regretted his decision to slap his Indian teammate during the post-match proceedings.
Harbhajan Singh regrets slapping Sreesanth in IPL 2008, reveals Dominic Thornely
Dominic Thornely, former Mumbai Indians player who played six matches for MI in IPL 2008, revealed about Harbhajan regretted his behavior with S Sreesanth. In the game against Punjab, Mumbai was in real trouble and even conceded the match by a huge margin of 66 runs in the end. Harbhajan, who was captaining the side, later faced a ban for the rest of the tournament after his irresponsible on-field behavior.
“Harbhajan had just got dismissed and was very upset when he came and sat next to me in the dug-out. We were eight-down and about to lose by a big margin. I just told him it was too early in the tournament to get frustrated and that he as a captain should remain upbeat.
“He looked at me and said that’s the right call and we should keep our calm and composure,” Thornley was quoted as saying in Sportscafe.
“Lo and behold, 5 minutes later, we’ve lost our last two wickets and the players are shaking hands. There’s a bit of a kerfuffle and the slap happens. I was 4 players behind them. And I was like how did that escalate so quickly? Harbhajan was upset later in the hotel and was like ‘I shouldn’t have done that’,” Thornley added.
