New Delhi — S. Sreesanth, the former India fast bowler, has publicly broken his long silence on the notorious 2008 IPL slapgate incident, launching a sharp attack on ex-offspinner Harbhajan Singh and accusing him of commercially exploiting the episode. Speaking to Malayalam outlet Mathrubhumi, Sreesanth alleged that Harbhajan earned between ₹80 lakh and ₹1 crore from a recent advertisement that made a thinly veiled reference to the slap, and confirmed he has since blocked Harbhajan on Instagram.

The Advertisement That Reignited the Feud

The flashpoint was a commercial for a retail electronics brand in which Harbhajan Singh is shown shouting at technicians attempting to repair gadgets by hitting them, with the tagline: "Sahi se thappad lagao, sab theek ho jata hain" (Slap them properly — everything gets fixed). For Sreesanth, the reference was unmistakable and deeply personal.

Sreesanth stated that the advertisement was the first time in eighteen years that he felt compelled to publicly address the incident. He revealed that after the ad aired, Harbhajan even called him and asked Sreesanth to promote it on his social media story — a request that was firmly refused.

"I have never spoken about Bhajji in any interview. This is going to be the first time. Until recently there were no problems, but he made an ad about it once again. He made around Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore off it. He then called me and asked me to put a story on it. I told him, 'I'll forgive but I'll never forget,'" Sreesanth told Mathrubhumi.

Sreesanth's Stance: Forgive, But Never Forget

Sreesanth was emphatic that while he holds no lasting grudge, he refuses to allow the incident to be used as a revenue-generating tool. He framed his philosophy around a lesson from his parents — forgiveness without amnesia.

"If someone wrongs you, you should forgive them but never forget. If you forget, they will do the same thing again. He is the biggest example for that. I have no relationship with that person. I used to call him a brother," said Sreesanth.

He went further, questioning the authenticity of Harbhajan's public persona, including comments Harbhajan reportedly made about Sreesanth's daughter during interviews — including one with former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. "People will think, oh what a great person he is. He might be a great person. But for me, from my time playing for India to now, in my opinion, it's all an act. That act is something Sreesanth doesn't accept," he stated firmly.

What Happened During the Original 2008 Slapgate Incident

The original incident occurred during the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in May 2008, during a match between the Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. Following a heated on-field confrontation, Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth, an act that was captured on camera and immediately went viral — a watershed moment that exposed the raw tensions simmering beneath cricket's glamorous T20 revolution.

The fallout was swift and severe. Harbhajan faced a disciplinary hearing and was banned for the remainder of the IPL season. He later issued a public apology. Despite the formal closure, the emotional wound, as Sreesanth's latest outburst makes clear, never fully healed.

The incident resurfaced dramatically in 2024 when Lalit Modi, the former IPL chairman and commissioner, shared a previously unseen clip of the altercation during an interview with former Australian captain Michael Clarke on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, reigniting public debate about what truly transpired that evening.

Harbhajan's Earlier Response and the Broader Cricket Fallout

When the clip went viral following Lalit Modi's disclosure, Harbhajan Singh responded with visible irritation. Speaking to IANS, he said: "Whatever happened 18 years ago, bringing it up again in public, I really don't understand the motive behind that. I don't know what he was thinking when he released the video — maybe he was under the influence or just messing around. If I were in his place, I wouldn't have let any such video come out like that."

Harbhajan's response was notably defensive — and critics noted the irony that he would subsequently appear in a commercial that unmistakably referenced the same incident he claimed to want buried. This contradiction is precisely what has enraged Sreesanth and his supporters.

The Bigger Picture: Cricket's Unresolved Wounds and Brand Opportunism

The slapgate saga is more than a personal feud — it reflects a pattern in Indian cricket where off-field controversies are never truly resolved but are instead managed through PR, apologies, and selective amnesia. The fact that a brand could commission an advertisement in 2025 that openly alludes to one cricketer physically assaulting another — and that the perpetrator willingly participated — raises serious questions about accountability, ethics in sports endorsements, and the BCCI's long-term handling of player conduct.

Notably, Sreesanth's own career was devastated by a separate controversy — the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal — which led to a lengthy ban before the Supreme Court of India ultimately cleared him. The asymmetry in how Indian cricket's establishment treated both men has never been far from public discourse.

With Sreesanth now speaking openly for the first time in nearly two decades, and with the advertisement still in circulation, it remains to be seen whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or the brand in question will respond to the renewed controversy. The episode also puts a spotlight on the ethics of celebrity endorsements that monetise personal trauma — a conversation Indian advertising has long avoided.