'How do you know?' - Harbhajan Singh to journalist claiming a BCCI official forcefully attended selection meetings

Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh raised a question on a journalist who claimed on Twitter that a BCCI official continued to be a part of the selection committee meetings “even when he knew he should have stayed away”.

Taking notice of the tweet, Harbhajan, who recently announced his retirement from all cricket, asked: “How do u know? And who is that official?”

“For quite some time, a BCCI official kept inviting himself to selection committee meetings even when he knew he should have stayed away,” read the journalist’s tweet. “Captain and coach were helpless. Couldn’t do anything. He had no business being there. I hope such instances are not repeated in the future,” it read further.

The conversation did not end here, as Harbhajan’s query was responded by the journalist: “Great question. You must pose it to Virat [Kohli], Ravi [Shastri], BCCI & selectors also. I’m sure some of them won’t mind sharing views. And when they do, please put it out here. Indian cricket would be in a far better place if these Qs (questions) were asked more regularly. You can start with Virat & Ravi.

The Twitter discourse between the two was understandably with respect to the recent unfolding of events around the captaincy of different formats of the Indian cricket team.

Virat Kohli, who had most initially announced his decision to step down as the T20I skipper following the conclusion of the T20 World Cup in a bid to manage his workload and focus on leading the ODI and Test teams, is no longer team’s captain in any format.

He relinquished Test captaincy following India’s 1-2 defeat at the hands of South Africa in the recent three-match series, while in between, he was seemingly sacked as the ODI captain, as the BCCI and senior selectors named Rohit Sharma as the 50-over captain through a collective decision that was made public in form of a one-line tweet during the squad announcement for South Africa tour.

Great question. You must pose it to Virat, Ravi, BCCI & selectors also. I'm sure some of them won't mind sharing views. And when they do, please put it out here.

Indian cricket would be in far better place if these Qs were asked more regularly.

You can start with Virat & Ravi.

— KSR (@KShriniwasRao) January 26, 2022

‘Big statement’ – Harbhajan Singh on Ravi Shastri’s ‘wouldn’t digest Kohli’s success’ comment

Meanwhile, Harbhajan recently also reacted to former India head coach Ravi Shastri’s claim that Kohli could have continued leading India in Tests for another two years, although ‘people wouldn’t have digested his success’. While Shastri did not name any individual, Harbhajan termed it to be a “big statement”.

“This is a big statement – Ravi Shastri saying that people wouldn’t have digested it had Virat Kohli won another 15-20 Test matches and enhanced his legacy as India’s most successful captain – I don’t know who he is talking about, who wouldn’t have digested it but we Indians would have been extremely proud of it. We would have wished he won another 40 and create a record that another Indian captain would have needed to captain twice to match it,” Harbhajan said on Sports Tak.