The Indian Cricket team has landed in London for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 tournament. They will soon start preparing for the English conditions in a bid to defend the title won back in 2013 on the same land.
As the 15 men get a hand of things, Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has raised a question regarding his experience and Indian Team’s selection. The 36-year-old cricketer wondered why his experience of 19 years doesn’t count as much as MS Dhoni during selection in the Indian Team.
Earlier, when chief selector MSK Prasad was asked about Dhoni’s role in the Indian team ahead of Champions Trophy 2017, the former said that “He (Dhoni) brings much more to the table than just his batting in the form of experience and his tactical brain.”
Thus, Harbhajan wondered why his experience isn’t taken into consideration by selectors when they pick up India’s limited overs team. He feels that the selectors have special preferences and give privileges to a certain player and not to others. Bhajji’s reference was to the man-in-form Gautam Gambhir.
Gambhir has been in right through the IPL and his own record in domestic cricket. He has played for India, doesn’t guarantee him a spot in the Indian team while someone like MS Dhoni irrespective of his form has been able to manage a place for his overall contribution.
“Yes, there is no doubt that 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,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by NDTV.
“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.
Harbhajan at the same time cited that his experience of having served the Indian team and having played the game for 19 years should also be considered in that respect. He was a part of the champion Indian team in the World T20 2007 as well as the World Cup 2011 and played a crucial role in the success of the unit.
“But when it comes to me. I do feel that we are not given that sort of privilege,” Bhajji added. “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 said.
Harbhajan was critical of the fact that neither Gautam Gambhir nor his name was discussed at the selection committee meeting for the Champions Trophy at a time when both have done so well at the IPL recently (as was reiterated by Prasad as well). Harbhajan had the best economy rate for Mumbai Indians at 6.48 on their journey to winning the 3rd IPL title.
Harbhajan has played 103 Tests, 236 ODIs and 28 T20Is for India and picked up 417, 269 and 25 wickets in the respective formats.
“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,” Bhajji said.
Harbhajan felt 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,” added Harbhajan.