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Farokh Engineer, the match referee for the Slapgate incident, has expressed surprise as Lalit Modi released the now-viral video.
Harbhajan Singh slapped S Sreesanth (X)
Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer, who was the match referee in the 2008 IPL match between, Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, which saw the infamous ‘Slapgate’ incident, has expressed surprise that its video has been made public. Engineer said that Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth in ‘the heat of the moment’ and he did his job ‘well’ by maintaining a ‘dignified silence’.
After arguing with each other throughout the match, Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth while the teams were mingling to shake hands. It was not recorded by any of the broadcast cameras, and the news only made it out on text. Even though it was a huge scandal at the time, the video didn’t come out.
Lalit Modi, a fugitive Indian businessman and then the chairman of the league, released it in a recent conversation with Michael Clarke, saying he found it in a security camera.
“I’m surprised that the footage has emerged after all these years,” Engineer told Mid-Day. “As match referee for that particular match, I maintained confidentiality throughout and didn’t speak about the contents of the incident even to the best of my friends in the media. I had a job to do as match referee, and I believe I did it (well) with dignified silence. It’s a thing of the past and I’m sure both players have long buried their differences. Like many other things in cricket, it was done in the heat of the moment. Harbhajan is a good friend. We move on,” he added.
Both Harbhajan and Sreesanth’s wives, Bhuvaneshwari, have taken it to social media to criticise Modi for releasing the clip.
“The way the video has been leaked it’s wrong. It shouldn’t have happened. They might have a selfish motive behind it. Something that happened 18 years ago, people have forgotten, and they are reminding people about it,” Harbhajan told Instant Bollywood.
Harbhajan had previously said that it’s an incident that he regrets the most from his career, while adding that he has apologized to the former teammate hundreds of times.
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