Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh will be playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2018, after his Mumbai Indians (MI) released him. Harbhajan said that his most tough opposition was CSK while playing for MI in last 10 years.
Harbhajan had an interaction with Times of India and talked about his past and upcoming IPL season. When asked about playing under new franchise, the 37-year-old said, "Obviously I am excited about it. They are one of the strongest teams ever in the IPL and I am looking forward to be part of the team."
MI didn't bid for the spinner at the recently concluded IPL auction. When asked if that surprised him, Harbhajan said, "Well, for 10 years I was part of that team and time simply flew. It doesn't matter if I was surprised or not, every team has its own planning and they went about their job. They clearly told me about what they felt about player retention and I have no hard feelings, I respect their decision. They are looking to build the team for the future and I am thankful to MI for the brilliant 10 years and the five trophies (three IPLs and two Champions League titles) that I won with them. But now it's time to move ahead and you cannot get a better team than CSK."
Harbhajan has played under MS Dhoni for the Indian team. He knows Dhoni very well. Talking about him, he said, "Dhoni is calm, composed and he and has a sensible head on his shoulders. I am looking forward to reuniting with him, if not for the blue of India, at least the yellow of CSK. And knowing the Chepauk wicket, it may be a blessing in disguise for me that I am playing for CSK. There will be assistance for the spinners and who knows, if I take a lot of wickets, I may come back into India reckoning after a good season."
The experienced spinner has replaced the local boy R Ashwin in the Chennai based franchise. Harbhajan is confident that he will find support from the local crowd.
"I know Ashwin has his own fanbase and that is perfectly fine. But at the end of the day, many of them are CSK fans and they will support whoever plays in yellow."
