The infamous ‘Slapgate’ controversy was against discussion in the commentary box when Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag recently came together while covering a T20 match in IPL 2023. Harbhajan and Sreesanth were involved in ‘slapgate’ but the cricketers have now moved on and become friends again. Sreesanth and Harbhajan have, in fact, come together again as commentators for the ongoing IPL 2023. During a cricket coverage, the incident was again brought up by Sehwag, who was on air with Harbhajan and Sreesanth.
Telling the world how lucky Harbhajan was to have him, Sreesanth said that he always used to hug Bhajji as it brought him good luck. Sreesanth said, “I want to share that before playing Test or any other match, I always used to hug Bhajji Pa (Harbhajan Singh). My performance was always better.” Hitting out at both the cricketers, Sehwag quickly asked, “When did this hugging trend start? Maybe after the Mohali incident.”
While Sehwag did not directly refer to the ‘slapgate’ incident, the Mohali incident he was referring to is the same. Sreesanth was allegedly slapped by Harbhajan after the Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians match in Mohali.
Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth’s hug moment – special reunion, beautiful. pic.twitter.com/gaQwdirQAL– Cricketman 2 (@ImTanujSingh) March 31, 2023
After listening to Sehwag, Harbhajan put a full stop to the conversation by saying ‘Bhool jao yaar’.
Harbhajan played 163 IPL matches, taking 150 wickets at an economy rate of 7.08. He also led Mumbai Indians to their maiden Champions League T20 title. Bhajji played 103 Tests, 236 ODIs and 28 T20Is for India, taking 417, 269 and 25 wickets respectively across the 3 formats.
Sreesanth, on the other hand, played just 44 matches as his career came to an end due to spot-fixing allegations and subsequent life ban from the game. In 2017, a court lifted the ban. Sreesanth played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs and 10 T20Is for India and took a total of 169 international wickets.