I will pull out of the draft and abide by all BCCI regulations to play in IPL, says Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh became the first Indian player to enter the draft for the inaugural season of The Hundred, which starts in July 2020, with a base price of £100,000. He was one of the 25 overseas players on the longlist with a base price of £100,000 (US$124,000) or more with the draft scheduled for October 20 in London. It was a staggering move without consulting with the BCCI despite being an active cricketer in IPL. Recently, Harbhajan's former India and Punjab team-mate Yuvraj Singh featured in the GT20 Canada, but that was possible only because the allrounder had retired.

However, Harbhajan, who wished to play in the 2020 season of the IPL, quashed the retirement talk after getting to know that he couldn't play The Hundred without retiring. "I did not know that to be part of IPL, I couldn't be part of the draft of The Hundred. So right now, I am not retiring and if it is a case of a choice between playing IPL or The Hundred, it will definitely be IPL. I will pull out of the draft and abide by all BCCI regulations," Harbhajan told TOI.

Harbhajan has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings for the past two years and finished with 16 wickets in the last IPL season. With his presence in the squad becoming more important than ever considering CSK's strategy of making spin-friendly wickets at home, it is unlikely he would go to the auction table this year.