'He was a different man altogether' - Harbhajan reveals how he and Andrew Symonds patched up after Monkeygate scandal

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has opened up how he and former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds patched up with each other after the infamous ‘Monkeygate’ episode. Both Harbhajan and Symonds were involved in heated conversations on a number of occasions on the cricket field. However, one of the biggest on-field verbal exchanges between the duo broke out when India toured Australia in 2007-08.

The visitors were taking on Australia in the Sydney Test. During that match, the Australian all-rounder accused Harbhajan of calling him a ’monkey’. However, the off-spinner denied that accusation. The incident grabbed everyone’s attention in the cricketing fraternity. However, a few years after the incident, both Harbhajan and Symonds found themselves playing for the same team in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Harbhajan Singh was part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Symonds was roped in by the franchise ahead of IPL 2011.

Harbhajan and Symonds were in Chandigarh when they sorted their issues

“I remembered an incident when we were in Chandigarh. After playing a match that we won, we went to my friend’s place. There, we hugged for the first time and apologized to each other. We felt that the issue could have been sorted out more amicably. Both of us felt sorry. A lot of my friends from Mumbai Indians clicked pictures of that moment,” said Harbhajan Singh in a conversation with Sportskeeda.

“When Mumbai picked him, the first thought that came to my mind was – ‘why did they pick him? How will we (me and Symonds) get along together?’ When he entered the MI dressing room, Andrew was a different man altogether. I thought he was some angry person and I feel he would have thought the same about me,” he added.

Talking about Harbhajan’s numbers in the IPL, the off-spinner played 163 matches in which he scalped a total of 150 wickets. He represented Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in his IPL career.