R Ashwin talks about learning 'sportsman's spirit' from Harbhajan Singh in 2001

Indian cricketer R Ashwin emerged into the international circuit after he debuted for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2009. Ashwin only got two games for CSK in IPL 2009 but was given more chances in 2010. R Ashwin paved his way into the Indian courtesy his stunning IPL performances and replaced Harbhajan Singh as India's leading spinner for the major part of the last decade.

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R Ashwin opens up on learning sportsmanship spirit from counterpart Harbhajan Singh

There were a lot of talks of rivalry between Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin during the first half of the last decade. But now it seems like there is no bad blood among the two. Both Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin came together for an Instagram live session on Ashwin's ReminiscewithAsh show on Monday evening. The duo spoke on several topics ranging from Harbhajan Singh's brilliant performances during the 2000-01 Australia's tour of India to sharing interesting anecdotes.

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R Ashwin said that he never missed a Test match at Chepauk in Chennai as he was either watching it or playing in it. The off-spinner narrated one such anecdote about Harbhajan Singh from the 2001 Chennai Test against Australia when Harbhajan Singh left a deep impression on him about the spirit of sportsmanship. 

R Ashwin said that Harbhajan Singh had dropped Matthew Hayden's catch off Sairaj Bahutule's bowling. He added that however, Harbhajan was thankful when Bahutule took Colin Miller catch off his bowling in the third Test match at Chepauk. R Ashwin further said that he saw Harbhajan going to Bahutule and apologising for dropping Hayden earlier and added that his father pointed out the sportsman's spirit between the two players. R Ashwin also said how his father told him about how the players get along with the game and focus on the next ball, which left a deep impact on him.

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Harbhajan Singh replied saying that he was disappointed because Hayden went on to score a double ton. And Bahutule couldn't take many wickets despite bowling well. He added that Bahutule told him to let go of it and said these things happen. Harbhajan also said that Bahutule was actually his room partner during that Test but he never mentioned about the incident even after they returned to the room.

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IMAGE COURTESY: RAVICHANDRAN ASHWIN INSTAGRAM