Former IPS officer questions BCCI's attitude towards Muslim players, gets fitting reply from Harbhajan Singh

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced the Indian squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. The selectors opted to give the youngster a look in for the series. The two beneficiaries who got their respective maiden call ups to the national set up were Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer and Hyderabad’s Mohammad Siraj. Iyer has been a prolific performer in the domestic circuit for Mumbai since the last couple of seasons.

Siraj has also made giant strides in his young career thus far. Interestingly, a news surrounding the religious grounds broke out a day ago. Former IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt had taken to micro blogging site Twitter to question the selection norms of the BCCI selectors. He had cited that there have been very few Muslim cricketers in the Indian team in the recent past.

“Kya iss samay bhartiya cricket team me koi bhi Muslim khiladi hai (Is there any Muslim cricketer in the Indian cricket team at present?),” the former IPS officer had asked in his tweet.

Harbhajan responds in fitting manner

The remarks made by the officer could have easily sparked a controversy. But former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh responded to this tweet in a fitting way. He rightly cited that the players playing for the national side should not be judged on their religious grounds. Each and every one of them is a proud Indian, mentioned Harbhajan Singh in his response to the vague tweet posted by the former IPS officer.

“Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isayi, aapas me hai bhai. Cricket team me khelne wala har khiladi hindustani hai uski jaat ya rang ki baat nahi hone chahiye. Jay Bharat. (Every cricketer playing in the national cricket team is an Indian. Their identity should not be judged based on religion, caste, or race.),” Harbhajan Singh fittingly replied to the tweet.