Taking the attention away from a riveting 2023 season of the Legends League Cricket in India, the ugly spat between former World Cup-winning Indian players, Gautam Gambhir and Sreesanth, took the centre-stage. The fight began after Gambhir allegedly called the veteran fast bowler “fixer” during their LLC game on Wednesday in Surat. It later extended to social media where Sreesanth wrote a lengthy Instagram post in reply to a cryptic post from Gambhir. However, when Harbhajan Singh, who led Manipal Tigers to a title win on Saturdat in Surat, was asked about his take on the incident, he channelised his inner Shah Rukh Khan to deliver an epic response.
“Bade baad shehro mein chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hain(in big cities, small things keep happening),” Harbhajan said in a presser during the tournament’s final leg.
However, the legendary spinner was soon left disappointed when the infamous ‘slapgate’ incident, involving him and Sreesanth in the inaugural season of IPL was dragged in the following query by a reporter.
“That is an incident of the past. Let’s not bring that up. What happened then was not right, and I don’t have any hesitation in saying that the fault was mine. I don’t know what happened this time (between Sreesanth and Gambhir). LLC has offered good cricket this year, and it would be better to stick to that only,” he said.
The incident between Gambhir and Sreesanth happened during their LLC game on Wednesday with an ugly scene unfolding in front of the crowd before the on-field umpires were forced to intervene. Sreesanth later went live on Instagram to reveal that Gambhir was allegedly disrespectful towards him and used “bad words”. The former India opener later put out a cryptic post which was followed by an angry response from Sreesanth: He wrote: “You have exceeded the boundaries of a sportsman and a brother, and above all, you represent the people. Yet, you continue to engage in conflicts with every cricketer. What is the matter with you? All I did was smile and observe, and you labeled me a fixer? Seriously? Are you above the Supreme Court? You have no authority to speak in such a manner and say whatever you please.”
On Friday, LLC organisers addressed the issue, saying that they will conduct an “internal investigation” and any proof of “misconduct” would be “dealt with strictly”.
