Farokh Engineer, 87, who was match referee in the 2008 IPL game, where India’s star spinner Harbhajan Singh and then Mumbai Indians’s skipper, slapped S Sreesanth, Kings XI Punjab’s India pacer, is surprised that the footage of the incident has surfaced 17 years later. “I’m surprised that the footage has emerged after all these years. As match referee for that particular match, I maintained confidentiality throughout and didn’t speak about the contents of the incident even to the best of my friends in the media,” Engineer told mid-day from his Lancashire home on Sunday.
Last week, IPL’s then commissioner Lalit Modi while speaking on a podcast with former Australia captain Michael Clarke, released the video that showed Harbhajan striking the fast bowler following which both players were seen separated by their teammates. Harbhajan was banned for all the remaining 11 matches.
Engineer is as gregarious and supportive to the media as they come, but his lips were zipped when it came to details of the unsavoury incident which took place after the April 25, 2008 game in Mohali, where the hosts won by 66 runs. “I had a job to do as match referee and I believe I did it [well] with dignified silence. It’s a thing of the past and I’m sure both players have long buried their differences. Like many other things in cricket, it was done in the heat of the moment. Harbhajan is a good friend. We move on,” signed off Engineer.
Referring to the video released, ESPNCricinfo asked: “What it doesn’t show is what really happened. Was Sreesanth provoking Harbhajan? Should the footage have remained in the vault forever? Both players have, in reality, long moved on. Harbhajan has spoken about regrets, Sreesanth has often laughed it off in interviews, and the two have even been spotted joking together on TV shows. But the video turns folklore into history with a 17-year-old story suddenly feeling brand new.”