We all know MS Dhoni’s importance in all matters of the Indian Cricket Team. Recently MS Dhoni was named in selection board of Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy. The BCCI Chairman of Selectors, MSK Prasad, had said on MS Dhoni’s selection that he brought much more to the table than just his batting in the form of experience and his tactical brain. But Harbajan Singh was disappointed that he was not given any such privilege.
India’s Veteran off-spinner Harbajan Singh commented about him being a senior player but not receiving any such privileges and MS Dhoni being the centre of attention. He suggested that he too was a senior player and brought a lot more to the table than just his bowling or batting but in his case it is not taken into consideration.
‘Yes there is no doubt that MS Dhoni brings a lot to the table apart from his batting, whether he is in form or not. Obviously we have seen that he is not hitting the ball as well as we have seen,’
He further added that being captain he (MSD) had a lot of opportunities to be among youngsters and is experienced on that end.
“But he has been captain and he understands the game and having him in the middle will help a lot of youngsters and people out there who are not feeling great in particular moments. So he has that edge.
But he said that he too has played for a long time but never got similar privilege.
“But when it comes to me. I do feel that we are not given that sort of privilege,”
He said that like MSD he too has won two world cups and should be treated same.
“We too have played for 19 years and won and lost India matches. I have won two World Cups too. So this privilege is for some players, and for some it is not and I’m one of those for whom this privilege is not there. I don’t know why that is the case.
He directly referred to the selectors being one-sided and questioned them for not considering him.
“That question of ‘why’, needs to be asked to the selectors. I don’t want to sing my own praises but the amount of cricket others have played even I understand the game as much and what they bring to the table we also bring to the table. We too wish to play for the country as much,”
He further said that this was not only with him but the same case goes for Gautam Gambhir. He mentioned that Gautam has played well and his performance was also good in the IPL and the only reason they play IPL is to get selected in the Team but they were not considered in the squad for Champions Trophy and their names were not even discussed for the selection.
Harbajan had the best economy rate for Mumbai Indians at 6.48 on their journey to winning the 3rd IPL title.
‘It is not fair to be honest. Why do we play such tournaments (like the IPL)? We play to get selected to play for India. If people are doing well. Let’s talk about Gautam Gambhir. He has the most number of runs consistently. If I talk about myself, yes, you know we all were hoping that we might be somewhere in the mix. But knowing that in my scenario I knew that If Ashwin will be fit then he will be there in the team and if he is not then I have a chance.
He further added about Ashwin and said that he was sitting in the IPL as he (Ashwin) was getting fit for Campions trophy, but he said that he has performed well in the tournament and deserved to be in the team for Champions Trophy.
“He (Ashwin) was rested for the IPL because he needs to get fit for the Champions Trophy. I understand all of that. But if you do well, you should be rewarded or considered at least. Aisa naheen key humney discuss naheen kiya, next question. Why do we have two different rules for two different people?”
When Harbajan was asked that maybe he and Gambhir were not considered for the squad because they didn’t match with the fielding criteria as compared to the younger players he said that if the case is so he should be informed about it so that he can work on that as he wants to be on the team.
“See if someone comes and tells me that this is one thing that is lacking in you that’s the reason you’re not there in the squad but nobody has told me. There is no communication. If someone tells me this is how fit we need you to be, at the end I want to play for India so I will work on it. I don’t know my weakness because nobody has spoken to me. None of the selectors, no one actually. But I’ve always felt that when I do I get somewhere so I’m working hard and I’m sure I’ll get somewhere,”
When MSK Prasad first joined as chairman he had clearly mentioned that no injured player will be taken back util they prove their fitness in a match like situation and pointing on this he said that in the case of Ashwin that is unlikely to happen considering he did not play in the IPL and the Champions Trophy is immediately after.
However he did say that for top players like Ashwin making an exception is understandable.
”Because he was rested by the team management itself, given the thought that we need him totally fit for the Champions Trophy so in scenarios like this with one or two players we can make this exception. But even in the case of Ashwin I’m sure a fitness test will happen. Knowing Virat and Anil bhai (Kumble) I’m sure they would not want to have an injured player in the squad. And knowing Ashwin, he is a champion bowler, he will not say that I’m half-fit but take me. He will say if he is feeling a niggle. I wish he is okay and I wish him all the luck to do well in the Champions Trophy,”
Well guys. This was all about it and it looks like Harbajan deserves to be on the team or atleast he should be informed why he is not included so that he can work on his weakness. We leave to you to decide who is right here.
Do let us know what you think about it.