Bhajji's Last Stroke

The IPLT20 match at Mohali, Which was won by the Mohali IPL team, ended in a controversy. The last stroke of the match was hit by Bhajji and that too without a bat, in the form of a tight slap on the face of S. Sreesanth, after the game was over.

The Indian spinner, playing for Mumbai IPL team, slapped Sreesanth of the Mohali IPL team. The incident happened when the teams were shaking hands at the end of the match. Sreesanth broke into tears and his teammates had to console him and take him to the dressing room.

Priety Zinta, the IPL Mohali team owner, tried to keep the media lens men away from a crying Sreesanth.

An eyewitness confirmed that Bhajji did slap Sreesanth. One version said a friendly tap on Sreesanth’s cheeks triggered an altercation. Another said Sreesanth repeatedly abused Bhajji provoking him.

One version is clear, and that is that Sree was slapped by Bhajji. The other side of the story is about the provocation given by Sree to Bhajji

It has been learnt that ahead of this game that both teams desperately wanted to win, Harbhajan had warned Sreesanth not to abuse him or anyone else in the team, on the morning of the match. He apparently even told him that if he did, he would hit him.

According to sources in the Mumbai camp, even the Mumbai youngsters, many on the big stage for the first time, were told to try and ignore Sreesanth's tantrums as far as they could. They were also told that if they thought that the fast bowler had become uncontrollable, they should tell him (Sreesanth) that they would complain about him to Sachin Tendulkar or Harbhajan.

While it was not clear what exactly Sreesanth said to Harbhajan at the end of the game, though some say he crossed a line, it was reliably learnt that Harbhajan was very upset by Sreesanth's incessant and impolite chit-chat throughout the match.

One such glaring instance was Sreesanth's exchange of words with Musavir Khote after the young Mumbai all-rounder was dismissed.

However, Yuvraj confirmed that there was an ugly incident, without revealing what exactly happened. “It was unacceptable and ugly. But Harbhajan came to the dressing room and spoke to Sree. I am sure he apologized,” Yuvraj said.

Moody said: “At the end of the day, players shake hands. But what we saw was something you don’t want to see.” A Mohali spokesperson said they would lodge an official complaint with the IPL governing council on Saturday.


"A lot of things happen in a family. We are part of one family. Whatever have happened we have sorted out all, everything is fine now," Harbhajan said before leaving for Mumbai with his team this morning.

Sreesanth, on his part, also said everything was "normal" between him and Harbhajan. "Everything is normal, there is nothing between us," he said.

What ever else you might say about IPLT20 atleast you can't complain that there is no action, drama and thrill in IPLT20.