Meet cricketer who bore the brunt of cricket's costliest slap, he was..., it cost...

Harbhajan Singh probably never thought that a moment of impulsiveness would lead to such a hefty financial blow. After he unexpectedly clashed with his teammate Sreesanth following a match between Harbhajan's Mumbai Indians and Sreesanth's Kings XI Punjab on April 25, he faced a fine that wiped out 100 percent of his match fees and received an eleven-match suspension. 

This incident not only damaged his reputation but also set him back by more than two and a half crore rupees. Hailing from Punjab, Harbhajan had been signed by the Mumbai franchise, owned by Reliance Industries, for a whopping USD 850,000 (around Rs 3.4 crore).

"There are no separate match fees for IPL matches and the players are given only allowances. The match fee is calculated on a pro-rata basis of the amount he had been bought for by his franchise owner and the number of matches he's able to play", a top Cricket Board source informed as quoted by Economic times.

According to this calculation, the player known as the "Turbanator" by the Australian press, was set to lose Rs 2.671 crore - approximately Rs 25 lakh per match - for the 11 games he would be unable to participate in due to the decision made by IPL match referee and former Test wicketkeeper, Farokh Engineer.

This incident is definitely one for the books, marking itself as one of the priciest slaps in cricket history. The only silver lining, if you can call it that, is that the person who threw the slap also referred to him as the greatest off-spinner India has ever seen.

It is interesting to think how the renowned Erapalli Prasanna, who was the man's friend and former teammate, would react to such a statement. It also makes you wonder what Bishen Singh Bedi, another well-known person who has frequently been one of Harbhajan's biggest critics, would think of it.

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