Veteran and one of the legendary off-spinners in world cricket, Harbhajan Singh, announced his retirement from international cricket, ending an 18-year-old career. Harbhajan Singh took 417 wickets in Test cricket, played 103 Tests, 236 ODIs, and 28 T20Is, and was also a part of the 2007 T20 World and 2011 World Cup-winning squads.
However, the off-spinner hasn’t been mincing his words since announcing retirement. He seems to be bitter about him not playing for games and picking for more wickets for India and has blamed this on the lack of support he received from the BCCI and his captain.
In a recent interview with Zee News, Bhajji revealed that former Indian captain MS Dhoni had better backing than other Indian players. He has been vocal about the injustice he felt after players who won the World Cup in 2011 never played together again.
“Dhoni had better backing than other players and if the rest of the players would have got the same kind of backing, then they would have played as well. It wasn’t as if the rest of the players forgot to swing a bat or didn’t know how to bowl all of a sudden,” he told Zee News in an interview.
I would have taken 100-150 wickets more: Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh, who became India’s first spinner to take a hat-trick in Tests, feels he could have added another 100-150 wickets in his tally if he received proper backing. Harbhajan reached the 400 wickets landmark when he was 31 years old.
“I was 31 when I took 400 wickets and if I would have played another 4-5 years, keeping in mind the kind of standards I had set for myself, I can tell you that I would have taken another 100-150 wickets or more,” he added.
Nonetheless, Harbhajan bids adieu to the sport as India’s fourth-highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game. Only Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, and Ravichandran Ashwin have taken more Test wickets for India than him.
Highlights:
• Harbhajan reveals that other players did not receive the same backing as MS Dhoni.
• Harbhajan Singh retired from international cricket on 24 December 2021.
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