Ravi Ashwin defuses tension with Harbhajan Singh calls him an inspiration

Published - 17 Oct 2016, 12:40 IST | Updated - 17 Oct 2016, 12:40 IST

3 Min Read

One could sense a bit of tension among two of India’s most successful off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin in the last few weeks, right from the time Harbhajan quoted a picture of the pitch used for the 3rd Test in Indore and wrote – ‘Already looks like 2 days old pitch before the 1st bowl is bowled..my predictions match won’t go more then 3 and half days..’

The match was eventually won by the hosts on the 4th day with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin playing a prime role. He bagged his best bowling figures of 8/49 as well as the best match figures of 13/140 in the game. Earlier in the series Ashwin earned the feat of being the second fastest bowler to 200 Test wickets.

Harbhajan’s recent comments and tweets where he has talked about most of the pitches in recent home games being rank turners was seen as a direct attack on Ashwin’s rising tally and that he wanted to suggest it was just fluffy as the wickets rolled out were a dream for a spinner.

Twitter is now an active ground and whatever is said via a tweet is always considered to be the view of a player and every post, retweet and like is subjected to scrutiny to figure out what it actually meant. Ashwin recently liked a tweet from a fan in which he had written that Bhajji wasn’t really happy watching his success.

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Appo @ashwinravi99 ? This is called stomach burning….. https://t.co/E1gVCG0poD
— bharathnt (@bharath1) October 11, 2016

Ravi Ashwin has been rested for the ODI series and with almost a cold war like situation dwelling around both the off-spinners, he decided to clear the air and stated that he has always admired Harbhajan who is a senior pro and it was only after watching him spin a web around the Australian team in 2001 that he picked up off-spin.

He said, ‘Harbhajan Singh has been an inspiration and I started bowling off spin only after seeing the 2001 series. This banter going on is unhealthy’

@harbhajan_singh has been an inspiration nd I started bowling off spin only after seeing the 2001 series.This banter going on is unhealthy
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) October 17, 2016

A follower then questioned him as to why did he like the tweet which said that Bhajji was jealous. ‘if thats so, then why did u like a hate tweet against bhajji?’

@sumeetmish must have been a mistake while browsing through
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) October 17, 2016

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He replied and said, ‘Must have been a mistake while browsing through’

@sumeetmish must have been a mistake while browsing through
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) October 17, 2016

He further attempted to calm the situation down and posted – ‘By pitting players against each other we aren’t going to gain anything but just a juicy headline. Lets respect ppl and keep the game healthy’

By pitting players against each other we aren't going to gain anything but just a juicy headline.Lets respect ppl and keep the game healthy?
— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) October 17, 2016

By this time Harbhajan Singh also sensed a need to give out his opinion and he quoted Ashwin’s tweet and wrote – ‘Dear got nothing against you. For some reasons my words are misconstrued. Wish you nothing but the best ✌️ Keep the flag high! God bless’

Dear got nothing against you. For some reasons my words are misconstrued. Wish you nothing but the best ✌️ Keep the flag high! God bless ? https://t.co/flIqJYDT4y
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 17, 2016

It looks like all’s well between the two cricketers who have made India proud at various points in their career and it’s the fans who need to chill out and let them work in their space and not equate everything and anything said against someone else.