The IPL of 2008—a league that promised to dazzle, excite, and create cricketing heroes. And it did at least in some cases. One of the defining moments of the inaugural season was when Mumbai Indians’ stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh, slapped Kings XI Punjab pacer Sreesanth after a match in Mohali. Sreesanth, then breaking down in tears on camera, surely must be one of the most shocking Indian cricket images of all time. Fast forward 17 years, and suddenly Lalit Modi reveals that he’s got unseen footage of that incident. Why was that footage hidden for 17 years? Harsha Bhogle shares with us the reason—and it’s not completely about cricketing theatre but a little strategic thinking too.
Protecting a League in Its Infancy
The 2008 IPL was more of a bold experiment than the glitzy extravaganza we binge-watch today. It was new, experimental, and trying to swing cricket fans who understood the old domestic setup. The last thing the organizers needed to do was throw the new league into a public scandal in order for it to lose public interest. The slap Harbhajan gave actually might just manage to interfere with the good spirit of the tournament. Harsha Bhogle mentioned that very few actually saw the remaining footage at that time- but those people who did had only agreed to see it in private. Why? Because the league was new. To see a player assault a teammate would have surely set off a commotion and possibly sullied the integrity of the IPL. It’s basically a public relations call to develop a new league and not be compromised by something sensational too fast.
The Ethics of Media and Privacy
Another angle is balancing the media’s urge to broadcast versus the players’ need for respect and privacy. The clip existed certainly–but publishing the exposé would add to Sreesanth’s humiliation at a time when he was emotionally vulnerable. Bhogle’s representation implies that some sort of moral decision was made by the cricketing fraternity–it might be better to be discreet and not expose something nobody really wants to talk about. Given the social media landscape and viral video clips, the cricketing fraternity chose, very correctly, to exercise impressive restraint in not circulating the video clip of a breakdown.
The Long Shadow of “Slap-Gate”
Even with the passage of time, the narrative is still controversial. With Lalit Modi finally producing the video for a podcast, there have been public comments like the public support by Sreesanth’s wife, who labelled Modi’s podcast run as a publicity stunt. But on the other hand, the older footage now frames a historical moment for fans to remember how the IPL had changed not only in the quality of cricket but its overall governance, disciplinary conduct, and management of controversies. The words of Bhogle tell us that the choices that were made at an earlier period, and sometimes not visible at the time, now form the basis of how events play out decades later.
FAQs
- Who revealed the existence of the unseen footage?
Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi revealed he had the footage and shared it recently on a podcast.
- Why wasn’t the footage released back in 2008?
The league chose discretion to prevent negative publicity as it was still establishing itself.
- What was Harsha Bhogle’s take on the situation?
He explained that the footage was rarely seen and intentionally kept out of the public domain to protect IPL’s reputation.
