Fourth-time IPL winning Indian cricketer, Harbhajan Singh, reflected at the successful stint with Chennai Super Kings.
For a decade-long, Harbhajan was part of CSK’s rivals, Mumbai Indians in their three IPL winning campaigns.
Bhajji swapped sides this season and was dramatically donning the yellows of Chennai. Besides, Mumbai Indians were not to keen to retain the ageing spinner during the auctions.
As it turned out. ‘Olden is Golden’ turned out to be the theme this season in the CSK squad, where the top performers were aged above 30.
CSK’s selection strategies were mocked out during the auctions, as Fleming and co. sheltered as many as nine above 30 players.
By the end of it all, it will go down as one of the masterstrokes from Stephen Fleming, and his strategies. MS Dhoni, himself, had the fire under his belly to win a silverware after a wait of four years, under his captaincy.
Also, MS turned back time to display the vintage knocks of his prime, at jaw-dropping rates. A feature which went missing from his brand of cricket for India, in recent seasons.
“He has been wonderful, and it was good to see him batting up the order. He reminded me of the older version of Dhoni,” Harbhajan Singh told SportstarLive.
“[Our performance] shows that age is just a number. If you are fit and you can run after a ball or score runs, then that should matter in the end and not how old you are on paper,” stated Bhajji.
During the presentation ceremony, Stephen Fleming mentioned they were looking for experienced professionals, and age wasn’t their sole criterion, much like the other teams.
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Experience matters the most: Bhajji
“We make mistakes by saying that players are 30 or 35. My question is, so what? When people are 20-21, they make mistakes in the middle by not thinking wisely,” continued the out of favour legend of off-spin.
“Nonetheless, the people in 30s are experienced as they have gone through these stages in their career, so they know when to react and how to react in pressure situations. That’s where experience comes to play,” Harbhajan says.
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The prove for the matter is that the likes of Watson, Rayudu, MS Dhoni, and Harbhajan Singh were brilliant throughout the tournament.
“With age, you know which shots to play and how to trap a batsman with the ball. Experience matters the most, and you have seen that with Chennai Super Kings,” concluded Harbhajan.
