Harbhajan Singh slams selectors for not considering him in Indian T20I team

Veteran Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian off-spinners of all time. The 39-year old has picked over 700 international wickets across all formats ever since he made his debut in 1998. However, Harbhajan Singh has not played a single international match for India since he last represented the ‘Men in Blue’ in 2016.

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Harbhajan Singh confident of making a comeback

Even though the seasoned campaigner has been out of contention for a while, the right-arm spinner has expressed his confidence of making a comeback in time for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. In a recent interview on ESPNCricinfo, Harbhajan Singh said that if he bowls well in the Indian Premier League 2020 (IPL 2020) season, he should be considered for international cricket by the selectors.

Harbhajan described the IPL as a very difficult tournament for bowlers because of the smaller dimensions of the boundaries and batsman-friendly pitches. Harbhajan Singh believed that even though he has been bowling well for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the recent seasons of IPL, the selectors have been ignoring him simply because they feel he is “too old”.

Harbhajan Singh further claimed that the quality of cricket and batsman in IPL is actually even better than international teams. He said that unlike international cricket teams, all IPL teams have good batsmen in their top six. Singh stated that if he has been able to dismiss batting superstars like Jonny Bairstow and David Warner in IPL, he can also get those batsmen out in international cricket as well.

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Harbhajan Singh to play for CSK in the IPL 2020

During the IPL 2020 trading and transfer window, Harbhajan Singh was retained by CSK for ₹2 crore (US$263,887). He became one of the 20 cricketers to be retained by CSK from their squad of the previous edition. The veteran off-spinner first joined CSK in IPL 2018 and has remained a part of the side since then.

The IPL 2020 has been postponed indefinitely by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis and India lockdown. Additionally, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly recently stated that there are no plans of staging any cricket match in the country as India lockdown continues to remain in effect. In spite of Sourav Ganguly’s announcement, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and apex council member Anshuman Gaekwad recently hinted that IPL 2020 can take up the September-November slot later this year. However, such a move would be made possible only if ICC shifts the October-November’s T20 World Cup in Australia to a later date.

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