Harbhajan Singh announced his retirement from all formats of cricket recently. The former Indian off-spinner represented the nation in all three formats of the game for a long period. Having played his last international game back in 2016, Harbhajan made up his mind to hang up his boots in December 2021.
His last appearance on the field came in the Kolkata Knight Riders jersey against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harbhajan’s last match happened behind closed doors without a single fan in attendance.
Nevertheless, Singh will be happy with the success he achieved because he has many incredible records to his name. Most importantly, he won the ICC T20 World Cup 2007 and ICC World Cup 2011 with the Indian squad. Both of those victories came under the leadership of MS Dhoni. Fans should note that Harbhajan had started his career under Sourav Ganguly’s leadership.
Sourav Ganguly handheld me at that juncture of my career when I was a ‘No One’- Harbhajan Singh
In an interview with PTI, Harbhajan Singh spoke at length about various topics. When asked to talk about the captaincy styles and his experience of playing under the leadership of MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly, the 41-year-old replied:
“It’s a simple answer for me. Sourav Ganguly handheld me at that juncture of my career when I was a ‘No One’. But when Dhoni became the captain, I was a “Someone”. So you need to understand the big difference.”
Singh concluded by saying that when Dhoni was the captain, he knew that the off-spinner is a reliable player who can win matches for the country, while when Ganguly was the Indian skipper, no one knew if Harbhajan would achieve success and become a legend like the one he became a few years later.
