Rumours of a rift between two members of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team – MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh – have been there in media for quite sometime now. The two have been a part of the Indian team for long, sharing many memorable wins and accolades during their illustrious career, while also sharing the dressing room at Chennai Super Kings. The veteran India bowler has now lifted the lid on the rumoured rift with former India captain Dhoni.
Neither of the two veteran cricketers have ever come out in the media to speak on the matter, leaving the entire scenario based on hearsay. Although Harbhajan did hint towards it when he announced his retirement in December of 2021, drawing curtains on his 18-year-long career. “When someone takes over 400 wickets and then he doesn’t get a chance or he’s not been told the reason for the drop, many questions are raised in mind. I asked many people regarding my drop out from the team, but I didn’t get any reply,” Harbhajan had told Dainik Jagran.
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A month later, in January 2022, amid rising talk on the aforementioned remark, Harbhajan sought to clear the air as he dismissed all such claims and instead added that his comments were targeted at the BCCI.
“I have no complaints against MS. In fact, he has been a good friend all these years. I have complained to the BCCI, the sarkar (government) of that time. I call BCCI as sarkar! The selectors of that time didn’t do justice to their roles. They didn’t allow the team to be united,” he had told News 18 in an interview.
On Friday, in an interaction with SportsYaari on the sidelines of Legends League Cricket in Doha, Harbhajan finally put the rumours to bed saying that he and Dhoni are “good friends”.
“Why would I have a problem with MS Dhoni? We played a lot of cricket for India and have been very, very good friends, and still are. He became busy with his life, and I became busy with mine, and we don’t meet very often. But there’s no rift whatsoever,” he said.
“As far as I know, he hasn’t taken away any of my properties (laughs). But yes, I am interested in some of his properties, especially his farmhouse,” he added.
