Sreesanth-Harbhajan Singh: former India cricketer reveals real reason he cried after slapgate in IPL 2008

Sreesanth being slapped by Harbhajan Singh in the first season of the IPL in 2008 is an episode etched in every cricket fan's memory.

An altercation between Harbhajan Singh, then playing for MI and Sreesanth, the then Kings XI Punjab bowler, led to the pacer being slapped by Singh during the game.

Moments later, Sreesanth broke down crying but it was not because was smacked by his then India teammate.

In a recent appearance on a video podcast, The Ranveer Show, the former Indian pacer revealed the reason behind his tears, 'So when that incident happened, I was shocked. I didn't cry because of pain but because of heart. I could not take the fact that he would do it and I was not worried about who was watching.'

Referring to him as 'paaji', meaning brother in Punjabi, Sreesanth remarked, 'So maybe the kid in me as a younger brother, if an elder brother was shouting, and he had all the right because before the game he had actually told me that don't go overboard with your aggression against us.'

The incident led to Harbhajan Singh being banned for the remainder of the inaugural season

The 41-year-old has often emphasised on the bond he has shared with Harbhajan Singh having represented India together as well.

'Even now I address him as 'Bhajji pa' and he is somebody who is always... Whenever I had any important spell or something I was not doing well I used to go and hug Bhajji pa. And somehow it is the vibration or maybe the positivity which paaji has got, I always used to get the performance out,' Sreesanth reiterated his good terms with the legendary India spinner.

On the same podcast, Sreesanth also made a shocking revelation about the then atmosphere in the Indian dressing room and facing alleged racism from his teammates, 'All my life I have been.... I can say it. See anything below Bombay was more like Madrasi. I have been hearing it from the time I was playing Under-13 to Under-14 to Under-16 to Under-19. Then we had the Kochi (Tuskers Kerala) team and it was like playing for the country again.'