IPL 2021: Top 5 controversies in the history of the tournament
On instances, situations turned ugly, both on and off the field.
2. Slapgate, 2008
Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth were two key members in the 2007 ICC World T20 triumph of the Indian team. However, after an early-season match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab in 2008, an incident involving the two star players shocked the nation. Just before the presentation ceremony, Sreesanth was seen crying, as he was being consoled by his teammates.
The footage of that scene is etched in the minds of a lot of people. However, the footage of the incident which led to the outburst of the Kerala pacer, hasn’t been released yet. Apparently, Harbhajan Singh, Mumbai’s stand-in captain, had slapped his Indian team colleague, when the two were about to shake hands. Sreesanth claimed that Harbhajan did that after he went and said, ‘hard luck.’
BCCI had conducted an investigation into the matter after which, the off-spinner was banned for the rest of the season. There were 11 league matches left at the time. However, the two have mended their relations since then. They once again featured in the world cup-winning campaign in 2011, as India lifted the ODI World Cup after 28 years.
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