Hope no player in future gets as badly treated as me, says Harbhajan Singh

With a staggering 711 international wickets to his name, Harbhajan Singh stands tall as one of the greatest off-spinners to grace the game. Having made his international debut back in 1998, Harbhajan rose to fame in the famous series win over Australia in 2001 after which he went on to establish himself as both an integral part of the Indian side and one of the best bowlers in the world.

However, the veteran off-spinner encountered a rather inauspicious end to his international career, with the management forcing him out of the side on the back of promising performances from the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin - across all formats. 

Speaking on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel, Harbhajan, who last played a game for India in 2016, hinted that he was rather unfairly dropped by the management in ODI cricket and claimed that many seniors, including himself, deserved a better farewell than what they got. Harbhajan, who is still an active cricketer, further wished for no player in the future to undergo what he went through. 

"In the last ODI series that I played, I bagged six wickets despite we lose the series. After that, I never played for India. Things were not right for me and I will talk in detail in future. Players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman and many more deserved better farewell,” Harbhajan said in a YouTube chat with Aakash Chopra. 

“If we do not respect our players nobody will respect them outside. Whatever happened to me, I hope that does not happen to anyone else.”

More than his departure in ODI cricket, Harbhajan's ousting from the Test side came more as a surprise as the off-spinner, despite not living up to the expectations, was expected to be kept in the loop due to his seniority and experience. However, that did not transpire, with him getting ejected from the team post the 2015 series versus Sri Lanka, and reflecting on his axing from the Test team, Harbhajan insisted that things could have been handled differently. The veteran off-spinner accused the selectors of not providing him with any sort of communication before dropping him from the side.

"I will always regret and things could have been handled better. Playing 100 Tests is a very big thing for any player and I was lucky enough that I'm one of them. I agree that my performance may dip a bit or I was not performing as expected but it could have been handled better. 

“Nobody came to talk to me. I returned from West Indies with 400 scalps and dropped from the side and never picked again in the Test cricket.”

Joining Suresh Raina and Robin Uthappa, Harbhajan also championed for the idea of BCCI allowing fringe players to take part in overseas T20 leagues.

"I think BCCI should allow players to play in foreign leagues. You have to allow non-contracted players whom you are not looking to choose in the Indian side. You have to make a system that players who have played 50 Tests or are above 35 years will seek permission from the board.”