Cricket fans clearly recall not only Brendon McCullum’s mastery in the first game or Sohail Tanvir’s excellence throughout the tournament, but also the infamous slapgate scandal that shook the sport in the maiden season of the Indian Premier League. After Mumbai Indians lost the match against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), off-spinner Harbhajan Singh lost his temper and slapped Sreesanth.
As a result of the altercation, Bhajji, as he is commonly called, was banned for the remainder of the season, and former South African cricketer Shaun Pollock assumed leadership of the Mumbai Indians. Since then, the 42-year-old has repeatedly stated that what he did was wrong and that if he had to rectify one mistake in his life, it would be the slapgate episode.
In the meantime, sixteen years after the incident, former pacer Sreesanth has revealed that a minor misunderstanding was blown out of proportion by the media. The batsman from Kerala also added that he had been acquainted with Harbhajan for a long time and had learned many commenting techniques from the former cricketer.
“We have been buddies forever. It was really a misunderstanding, but the media made a huge deal about it. I will simply state that Bhajji pa has supported me in every manner from the beginning, most recently with commentary advice. I am extremely grateful to him for all of his support and assistance. This song, ‘Tere jaisa yaar kaha,’ describes my bond with him,’ Sreesanth explained to Sports Yaari.
Importantly, both were members of the India Maharajas team that fell to Asia Lions on March 18 in the Legends League Cricket Masters Eliminators (LLC Masters). Overall, the squad won only one of their five games in the competition, with captain Gautam Gambhir pledging to return stronger in the following edition.
Asia Lions and World Giants will play the final of the LLC Masters on March 20.
The Global Giants won the point standings among the three teams to immediately qualify for the March 20 finals. They overcame India Maharajas in their tournament opener by a narrow score of two runs. They subsequently suffered a single setback to Asia Lions before winning their final two matches by three wickets and twenty runs, respectively.
The Asia Lions, on the other hand, won only two of their four matches, dropping both of their second-round contests to give World Giants the top slot.
World Giants and Asia Lions, led by Aaron Finch and Shahid Afridi, will now meet on March 20 at the Asian Town Cricket Stadium in Doha for the summit match.
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