Ambati Rayudu excelled in this year's Indian Premier League scoring runs wherever he was asked to bat. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who are coming back after 2 years with a new batting unit, tried him as an opener, which created an opportunity for him and he came out as one of the top run-getters in this season.
Along with Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh too moved from MI to CSK. They have shared the same dressing room in IPL till now and the veteran spinner knows him very well. Talking about the 32-year-old Harbhajan said Rayudu is an introvert. "He's an introvert. He doesn't mingle with people too much. When I was with MI, I hardly saw him outside the ground. Can you believe it that he doesn't even have a phone! There's a Hindi film dialogue na: Don ko dhundna mushkil hi nahin, namumkin hai (it's not just difficult, but impossible to find Don). The same applies to Rayudu!," Harbhajan said while promoting his show 'Bhajji Blast'.
Ravindra Jadeja isn't celebrating wickets this year. He had not reacted even after picking up Virat Kohli's wicket. Harbhajan revealed the reason why his CSK teammate has not celebrated wickets. "He says I don't celebrate IPL wickets. This time, he just shakes his head, and mutters: 'ho gaya chal (it's done)."
Harbhajan has spent a good amount of time with the current cricketers. He has played almost 20 years of cricket and has many secrets about cricketers buried in him. But the 37-year-old is still very curious to know few things.
"The night when we were celebrating our World Cup triumph in 2011, MS Dhoni suddenly went to his room, and came back like 'shakaal' (a popular villainous character from the movie Shaan). He didn't go to any barber to shave off his head. I still don't know why he did it."
Harbhajan, who has experience of 103 Tests, believes Dhoni's bat is answering his critics in IPL itself and though the 2019 World Cup is still very far, he has shown his worth for the major ICC event.
"The World Cup is still very far. This (the IPL) is a different tournament and format. People will continue to question Dhoni. You can't stop them, but Dhoni's still a class, world champion player. He's been India's best ODI player. We don't need to talk about his performances, let his bat do that. He's a legend of Indian cricket," praises Harbhajan.
The former Mumbai Indians cricketer speaks about how tough it was to play for CSK with the first encounter against MI. "It was a mixed feeling. I was like, 'What am I doing in the (rival) dressing room. And my (jersey) colour is suddenly yellow. This is different.' When that game got over, I was like 'Thank God, it was the first match!. After that, it's been a great journey, coming from one great team to another. Luckily, things didn't change too much. I was playing in the IPL final there (with MI), and now here too!"
Harbhajan is confident of lifting the trophy this year for CSK. "As the game comes closer, you get nervous. But we'll win for sure. Before the IPL auction this year, I'd said that whichever team 'buys' me, will win the IPL. And look, CSK are on the verge of winning the trophy!" he joked.
