Harbhajan Singh questions BCCI for poorly treating Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman

India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who played a pivotal role in India's World Cup-winning campaign in 2011, made a huge statement about Indian cricket's poor treatment to its champion players. He said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) must learn to respect its players, who have played an important part in the country's triumphs in the past. It bears noting that amongst all his former teammates, Harbhajan has not retired from any form of cricket yet.

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Gautam Gambhir & VVS Laxman left on a bitter note: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan, while speaking to a leading media house, said that champion players like Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman left on a bitter note. Laxman, who had announced his retirement from the game back in 2012, made headlines when he claimed that he failed to establish communication with MS Dhoni, the then captain of the Indian cricket team. Gambhir had also called it quits in 2018, 2 years after playing his last international match for India. Harbhajan went on to say that many players from the 2011 World Cup-winning team could have played the 2015 edition in Australia and New Zealand as well but instead, they were sidelined.

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The Sandeep Patil-led selection committee had dashed the hopes of Gambhir, Harbhajan, Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag by overlooking them for the 2015 World Cup. As many as only four members of the 2011 squad (MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin) were retained in the squad for the event in which India made the semi-finals. Harbhajan said that many players from the 2011 World Cup like him, Yuvraj and Gambhir could have played the next World Cup but they were dropped. He added that he could not figure out the agenda involved in dropping them. He also went on to question BCCI's need for making a new team when it was playing well. The Chennai Super Kings off-spinner concluded that India needed to have experienced players in the side to make sure that when a crunch situation comes, players can hold their nerves by making right decisions and doing the needful for the team to win marquee events such as the World Cup.

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