Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh posted a cryptic message on social media with the help of Hindi idioms to share his thoughts in a veiled manner.
“When Elephant walks through the market, paid dogs bark,” was the translation of the Hindi post shared by Harbhajan.
Earlier this month, Harbhajan Singh had urged the BCCI to end the “superstar culture” in the Indian team and pick players for future assignments only on the basis of performance and not on reputation.
His remark came after India’s 1-3 defeat to Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade.
“There is a superstar culture which has developed. We don’t need superstars, we need performers. If the team has them (performers), it will move forward. Whoever wants to become a superstar should stay at home and play cricket there,” the spin great said on his Youtube channel.
“There is a tour of England coming up. Now everyone has started talking about what will happen in England, who will go, who will not go. For me, it is a simple matter. Only players who are performing should go. You can’t keep picking players on their reputation.
हाथी चले बजार
पालतू ( paid) कुते भौंके हजार— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) January 9, 2025
“If you do that, then you should take Kapil Dev sir and Anil bhai also. Here, the BCCI and the selectors will have to be firm and act tough. I don’t think that the superstar attitude is taking the team forward.”
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were woefully out of form during the recently concluded test series against Australia. The series defeat saw India’s failures to reach WTC finals despite being in the top place in the WTC points table for most of the period.
Virat Kohli could manage only 190 runs in his nine innings in the series, repeatedly dismissed on his outside offstump weakness.
Harbhajan Singh said the struggling players should play some form of cricket and prove themselves if they wish to be picked for the England test tour.
India’s next assignment will be a white ball series against England before the high profile Champions Trophy 2025. The first match of the T20I series will begin on January 22 at Eden Gardens.
