MS Dhoni gets more privilege in team selection: Harbhajan Singh

The Indian team has landed in London and will soon start preparing in English conditions in a bid to defend the title they won last time on the same land. But just as the 15 men get a hang of things and rid of the jet lag Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has raised a huge question. He feels that the selectors have special preferences and give privileges to a certain player and not to others.

His reference was to the form Gautam Gambhir has been in right through the IPL and his own record in IPL and domestic cricket and whenever he has played for India doesn’t guarantee them a spot in the Indian team while someone like MS Dhoni irrespective of his form has been able to manage a place for his overall contribution and what he brings to the table.

MS Dhoni the privileged player

“Yes there is no doubt that Dhoni brings a lot to the table apart from his batting, whether he is in form or not. Obviously we have seen that he is not hitting the ball as well as we have seen,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by NDTV.

He values Dhoni’s cricketing acumen and the impact someone, as experienced as him, can have on the younger players in the team who haven’t played as much cricket and are yet to face and deal with the pressure that they will be subjected to in a big tournament like the Champions Trophy.

“But he has been captain and he understands the game and having him in the middle will help lot of youngsters and people out there who are not feeling great in particular moments. So he has that edge,” the turbanator added.

Harbhajan at the same time cited that his experience of having served the Indian team and having played the game for 19 years should also be considered in that respect. He was a part of the champion Indian team in the World T20 2007 as well as the World Cup 2011 and played a crucial role in the success of the unit. The offie has represented Team India in 103 Tests, 236 ODIs and 28 T20Is with 417, 269 and 25 wickets to his name in respective forms.

“But when it comes to me. I do feel that we are not given that sort of privilege,” Bhajji added. “We too have played for 19 years and won and lost India matches. I have won two World Cups too. So this privilege is for some players, and for some it is not and I’m one of those for whom this privilege is not there. I don’t know why that is the case,” he said.

Harbhajan also stated that the selectors or anybody from the team management has never reached out to him and pointed out a particular drawback in his game that he needs to work upon to be considered for selection. Even if it was the matter of his fielding standards it was never conveyed and that prevents the player form understand what he needs to do to be able to fit into the selection parameters and make a comeback.

“That question of ‘why’, needs to be asked to the selectors. I don’t want to sing my own praises but the amount of cricket others have played even I understand the game as much and what they bring to the table we also bring to the table. We too wish to play for the country as much,” Bhajji said.