Harbhajan Singh Disagrees With Michael Clarke Over IPL Contracts Comment
Apr 19, 2020 at 11:54 AM
Recently, the former Australian World Cup-winning captain Michael Clarke has created a controversy by claiming that the Australian players are scared to sledge the Indian captain Virat Kohli due to their IPL contracts. Like many others, the veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has also disagreed on that claim.
According to Michael Clarke, the Australian players want to secure their IPL contracts, and that’s why they are scared to sledge Virat Kohli in international cricket. Already, many Australian cricketers and Indian cricket experts have denied this claim and criticised the former Aussie captain.
The 39-year-old Harbhajan Singh has also given the same unsupportive opinion to Clarke. The veteran off-spinner has clarified that Kohli doesn’t provide the IPL with contracts to the players. Harbhajan feels that if Clarke wanted to point out some particular guys, he should have named rather than putting everyone in the same place.
According to TOI, Harbhajan said, “Virat Kohli does not give contracts to all! If you’re good enough nobody will stop you. Someone like (David) Warner or (Steve) Smith…how can you stop them? They don’t need to fear for their contracts. I don’t know if, at all he felt there are guys (who fear for their contracts), he should have named them. But I don’t think putting everyone on the same boat is right.”
Every franchise has right to buy whoever they want to buy: Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan has also added that the franchisees hire the players according to their choices. The veteran off-spinner claimed that the player couldn’t be bought even if he moved to Kohli’s good book until the franchises were satisfied on the player.
Harbhajan added, “Every franchise has right to buy whoever they want to buy. They know who can win them games. If they will do well, they will have better chance to get picked. So it won’t make a difference if you are in Virat’s good books or any other player’s good books. On the contrary, if someone gets Virat out four times under 10 runs, he will say…pick him.”
In IPL history, Harbhajan Singh is one of the most experienced cricketers. The off-spinner has taken 150 wickets in 160 IPL matches, and currently, he is the joint third most wicket-takers in this tournament history.
From the inaugural edition, Harbhajan played for Mumbai Indians (MI) till 2017. He was the first MI captain to win a trophy as MI won now-defunct Champions League T20 2011 under his leadership. Since 2018, Harbhajan is serving for MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK).