Won't cry about missing out on IPL final, says Harbhajan Singh

Mumbai Indians romped to their third win in the Indian Premier League this year. Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the team managed to beat the Rising Pune Supergiant in the finals of the tournament. It was a thorough team effort from the Mumbai Indians camp throughout the season that saw them emerge as the eventual winners. One thing that startled many was the exclusion of veteran bowler Harbhajan Singh from the lineup in the playoffs.

Leg spinner Karn Sharma was roped in the playing eleven ahead of the off-spinner in the fag end of the season. Earlier, when Harbhajan Singh was benched in the season opener, even that had raised a lot of eyebrows. When the same thing happened in the final of the tournament, the fans got sympathetic towards Harbhajan. Recently, the bowler himself opened up about the entire scene.

He noted that there was a time when he used to be the one helping the team draw out the playing eleven. But this time around, he was sitting out. It was very disappointing and frustrating to sit out of the lineup. MI skipper Rohit Sharma had later reasoned out why Harbhajan was benched and had called it a tactical move.

“Obviously frustrating when you’re sitting out and watching the game and it is something which is out of your control. Till last year, I was part of the management that used to pick the playing XI. But this time I needed to spend time with my family,” quoted Harbhajan Singh.

Not quite pleased with the reason

He further added that Mahela Jayawardene had already spoken to him about playing Karn ahead of him because of many right-handers in the opposition. To this, Harbhajan said that throughout his career he had dismissed many right-handers. Hence, the decision and the reason certainly did not go down well with him.

“I respect the management’s decision. I won’t cry about this. I am a team man. Mahela (Jayawardene) spoke to me about a lot of right-handers in the Pune team so they want to play a leg-spinner but as an off-spinner, most of my wickets in any formats have been right-handers. I believe. This is what I feel. But in the end what matters is that we won,” he conceded.