Harbhajan Singh: Should have been picked to play IPL Final

If numbers and stats are anything to go by, Harbhajan Singh should have been the first name on the Mumbai Indians team sheet for the IPL final against Rising Pune Supergiant. However, it wasn’t to be the case for the veteran off-spinner.

And Harbhajan has good reason to feel hard done by the snub. In 11 IPL games this season, ‘Bhajji’ has picked up 8 wickets in 11 matches at an economy rate of 6.95. Yet, he found himself out of favor on the big day owing to the emergence of leggie Karn Sharma. He acknowledged his frustration as NDTV reported him as saying, "Obviously frustrating when you're sitting out and watching the game and it is something which is out of your control."

However, Harbhajan is way too experienced and professional to be bogged down by such incidents and having previously himself been a part of the team management, he understands the decision. "Till last year, I was part of the management that used to pick the playing XI. But this time I needed to spend time with my family.”

“I respect the management's decision. I won't cry about this. I am a team man. Mahela (Jayawardene) spoke to me about a lot of right-handers in the Pune team so they want to play a leg-spinner but as an off-spinner, most of my wickets in any formats have been right-handers."

Harbhajan concluded by saying he was happy with the overall outcome of the game. "I believe. This is what I feel. But in the end what matters is that we won."    

Did you know, Virender Sehwag holds the highest score by a Captain in an ODI innings (219).

For more fun stats and predictions play the newest fantasy-cum-predictions game in the market – Nostragamus. Download the game by tapping here.

Nostragamus