Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has fired some shots at ex-India skipper MS Dhoni and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), terming them responsible for his exit from Team India.
Harbhajan said he had taken 400 scalps upon reaching 31 and could’ve played for another 4-5 years and easily taken 100-150 wickets more had if he continued playing.
“Luck has always favoured me. Just some external factors were not by my side, and maybe, they were completely against me. This is because of the way I was bowling or the rate at which I was moving ahead. I was 31 when I took 400 wickets, and if I had 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,” Harbhajan told Zee News.
Bhajji revealed that some BCCI officials were not in favour of him getting a place back in Team India, and somehow Dhoni was aware of all the happenings.
“Yes. MS Dhoni was the captain then, but I think this thing was above Dhoni’s head. To a certain extent, some BCCI officials were involved in this and didn’t want me and the captain may have supported that, but a captain can never be above the BCCI. The BCCI officials have always been bigger than the captain, coach, or the team,” added the 41-year-old
The Jalandhar-born further pointed out that Dhoni enjoyed a lot of backing from the Indian board, unlike a few other players, who could’ve played for some more years if supported.
“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,” Harbhajan added further.
