Mohali. Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has announced his retirement from Day 1 of Test Cricket. The decision was taken after he had an abysmal performance on the first day of the Chennai test against Australia, and not so great first day either at Hyderabad test.
“The only time he turns is when he drives his Hummer,” said Rajesh Choudhary, a frustrated fan who also witnessed dropped catches by Sehwag on the first day of Chennai test.
Talking about the new rules of retirement, a senior BCCI official said that it was aimed to provide flexibility to the players. He was confident that ICC will agree to the new rules as IPL was just a few weeks away.
“This is a wonderful concept. We wish we had framed such rules earlier. Ganguly could have happily retired from the period fast bowlers were operating and could have continued playing for us,” he wondered.
For a moment as emotional as this, Harbhajan Singh stayed composed throughout the press conference. Addressing the media, Harbhajan Singh, commonly known as Bhajji, said, “I have informed the Selection Committee and the Board. Ideally, I would have liked to bowl only on Day 5 but that would mean putting too much pressure on youngsters to handle.”
He praised the young talent pool of spinners that India was bestowed with, then deliberately mentioned Ravindra Jadeja and chuckled. Asked to name one promising pacer, he struggled before he finally gave up and answered, “Milkha Singh?”
As he hails from Punjab, he also expressed his desire to appear in the next season of IPL as a foreign player from Canada, but it’s not clear if BCCI will change IPL rules for him.
Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni was also present during the conference. Dhoni said that Bhajji was going through a recovery phase after lifting Nita Ambani repeatedly during IPL. Dhoni, however, acknowledged that the retirement decision was a great loss to the nation and Nach Baliye.
“For a spinner, the ability to not turn the ball on Indian pitches is a skill in itself and Bhajji has done it consistently over the years,” he further added.
Later on the same day, Dhoni was accused of calling Bhajji a spinner by the same frustrated fan. “Even Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav turn better,” Rajesh yelled.
Speaking to Faking News, Duncan Fletcher, the alleged Indian coach refused to comment on his role behind Bhajji’s retirement.
“I have done nothing!” were the exact words he said without even the slightest change of expression.
While batsmen all over the world have expressed shock over Harbhajan’s decision, Harbhajan said that next he would retire from bowling in Test matches and continue playing as a spinner. As our reporter noticed, Duncan Fletcher’s expression still remained unchanged.
As we write, Munaf Patel has retired from bowling in death overs and Sehwag had announced retirement from opening the innings.
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