T20 World Cup 2021 | Coaches giving toss as an excuse is wrong, says Harbhajan Singh on Bharat Arun statement

11/08/2021

Harbhajan Singh has stated that coaches giving toss as an excuse is wrong, after Bharat Arun cited toss and bio-bubble fatigue as reasons for India not making it to the T20 World Cup 2021 semifinals. Harbhajan believed that India, "a champion unit", didn’t live up to the expectations.

India, who were marked as favourites by many before the start of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021, failed to make it to the semifinals for the first time since 2012. Defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand hurt their chances significantly, as they had to rely on other results to go their way to progress further.

India lost the toss in the matches versus Pakistan and New Zealand, wherein the opponents chased down the target without much fuss. Bowling coach Bharat Arun stated that the toss and bio-bubble fatigue were the two reasons behind the defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand.

Reacting to the Arun’s comment, Harbhajan Singh stated that coaches giving toss as an excuse is wrong.

"If coaches give such excuses, it's really wrong. Let us admit we did not play well, which can happen. Not a problem, but going forward, it should be a learning that we should not give out such statements and try to play better,” Harbhajan told Sports Tak.

"It's easy. There is no if and but involved, things like 'if we had won the toss, we would have won the match as well. It doesn't work that way. There are teams who did not win the toss but ended up winning the match. Such things are said by teams who aren't as developed. But India are a strong unit, a champion unit.”

Hartbhajan, who was part of India's victorious campaign in the 2007 edition in South Africa, cited example of Chennai Super Kings' recent IPL 2021 triumph, while adding that the Indian team didn't live up to expectations.

"I heard Bharat Arun saying that had India won the toss, they could have done this and done that. All that is up for a later discussion. If you had though that you wanted to bowl first or bat first, well… didn't Chennai Super Kings win the IPL after batting first? They did score 190, so you have to make runs. Let us accept the fact that we didn't play well as we should have and we did not live up to expectations," Harbhajan opined.

India will face Namibia in their last Super 12s fixture in Dubai on Monday, November 8.