Legendary Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh revealed that Indian players never interacted with the Australian cricketers during their playing days. Singh admitted that since both the Indian and Australian cricketers started to spend time together in the Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons, they have changed drastically. Apart from the IPL matches the players continued their companionship in the international matches as well.
Harbhajan Singh, who retired last month from all formats of cricket, said that he was not concerned about becoming enemies with the corivals to attain victory.
Harbhajan Singh, who has a record of 711 international wickets from 367 matches across all formats, is appreciated by the Aussies for his performances even though he has earned a lot of hate from them. Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting once admitted that he found Harbhajan was the most difficult offspinner he faced in his entire career.
“Yes, IPL has changed the dynamic among the players in many ways because we spend close to 45-50 days together which is a lot. You do become friends and forget a lot of bitterness from the past. Nowadays, the rivals are enemies only on the ground; but during our playing days, we didn’t even speak to the Australians even in the hotel lobby. Such was the kind of heated clashes we had on the field.” Harbhajan said.
“Ponting, Hayden are big players and when they say something about your game, it does feel nice. They will not praise you for doing anything. I must have done something special as a player. The Aussies used to be the boss team of our generation and it was always great to challenge and test yourself against the best,” Harbhajan added.
