18 years had passed, Harbhajan Singh’s video of slapping S Sreesanth remained a mystery. The video of that incident in 2008 was released by Lalit Modi, former chairman of IPL in the year 2025. As soon as this video surfaced, there was panic in the cricket world. After slapping, pictures of S Sreesanth’s cry continued to go viral on the internet for years. Now that everything has come in front, here you know how hard BCCI sentenced Harbhajan Singh 18 years ago.

What punishment did Harbhajan Singh get?

In IPL 2008, Harbhajan Singh, Mumbai Indians and S Sreesanth used to play for King XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). After the slap incident, the Punjab team complained to the match referee. The match referee Farooqh was an engineer, who found Harbhajan guilty of Level 4.2 under the IPL code of conduct during the investigation.

Harbhajan Singh was banned from the remaining matches of IPL 2008 as a sentence. Another punishment was that he was not given any salary for the 2008 season. As a result, Harbhajan was able to play only three matches in IPL 2008. However, later Harbhajan accepted his mistake and also apologized to Sreesanth.

BCCI also sentenced severe punishment

The Board of Control for Cricket in India also adopted a very strict attitude on the matter. The BCCI’s disciplinary committee found Harbhajan Singh guilty under Rule 3.2.1. He was banned for five ODIs. At the same time, he also got warning that if he does such an act in future, he can be banned for a lifetime.

Lalit Modi has released the actual unseen ground footage of Harbhajan Slapping Sreesanth in IPL 2008.

All my life i thought it was a really hard slap pic.twitter.com/e23pps4nr2

– Yogesh (@yogesharma92) August 29, 2025

Also read:

Where is Virat Kohli walking before the Asia Cup? Social media influencer spots this city