Harbhajan Singh shares dinner with PCA Stadium groundsman

Harbhajan Singh has been an indefatigable trooper of Indian cricket. He has racked up a truckload of wickets and emerged as one of India’s most reliable bowlers in all formats of the game. He is an aggressive bloke in the outfield and never allows the opposition to get on to his nerves. While he makes the ball tweak with his bag of tricks, he also doesn’t mind sledging the oppositions.

The Monkeygate incident against Australia involving Andrew Symonds during India’s tour of the nation in 2007 is pretty afresh in the memories. He has also allegedly said to have slapped S Sreesanth during the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League in 2008. However, there’s a humble side of Bhajji which very few people have seen.

Recently, the off-spinner shared a picture having dinner with Mulayam Singh, a groundsman of the Mohali Cricket Stadium in Chandigarh. This was one of the very few instances when Harbhajan has revealed his common face away from his stardom as a cricketer.

Along with the post, Bhajji wrote- “About last night Dinner scenes with Mulayam Singh…most hard working ground man and has consistently given his best for the last 22 years at PCA Cricket Stadium, Mohali. Thank you for the support through and through with everything on the field #Timefly”

Tough times for Harbhajan

The Jalandhar-born spinner has struggled of late with his form and has struggled to make an impact with the ball. The 37-year-old has gone out of the radar of an Indian selection owing to the emergence of Ravichandran Ashwin and several other spinners. He has been an integral part of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

However, to his dismay, he hasn’t been retained by the franchise in the recent IPL retention event. It’s out of the question that Mumbai will buy him back in the upcoming auctions or use the Right to Match card since they retained three capped Indian players and will not be able to hang on to anyone else. The off-spinner has played 103 Tests and has picked up 417 wickets.

His hat-trick against Australia at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2001 was the first ever hat-trick by an Indian bowler in Test cricket. Harbhajan last played an international game for India in 2016 in a T20 International against the United Arab Emirates.