Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been an integral part of the Indian Premier League (IPL), as he has been part of the premier T20 tournament since its inception.
Throughout the last 12 seasons, the spinner has played for the two most successful franchises – Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in the tournament and even has won the IPL trophies with both the teams led by MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
Well, this year, the fate of the 13th edition of the IPL, where Harbhajan was due to play for the CSK, looks in jeopardy due to the ongoing global Coronavirus pandemic and is currently suspended amid the COVID-19 lockdown in the country.
In the latest interaction with Hindustan Times, the veteran cricketer has opined on the future of showpiece tournament, saying it is “fine” if the IPL 2020 doesn’t happen for the first time in 13 years given the present critical situation all over the world including India.
Harbhajan told HT, “Travelling from and to will be restricted in many countries in the coming months. I don’t see international players traveling in the near future. I do not know what decisions the (Indian) government and BCCI take on the future of IPL. Honestly, even if IPL doesn’t happen for the first time in 13 years I think that is fine. We can’t force to have cricket seeing the serious situation we all are in. Human life comes first, cricket can wait.”
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He added, “This is a testing time for everyone. Honestly, I am not even thinking about cricket at the moment. Saving lives and practicing solidarity are the most important things on my agenda. When we began the CSK camp at the beginning of March we didn’t anticipate this as we had large crowds coming in even for practice sessions. Within days and weeks the world turned upside down; nobody is talking about cricket or sports. Everybody is just concerned about saving lives.”
Noteworthy, the reports suggested that the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) is looking for an alternate window to conduct the IPL 2020 later this year.
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
