Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, ended his career with 417 Test wickets. He is currently the fourth-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests, after Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, and R Ashwin.
Harbhajan, in an interview with Dainik Jagran after retirement, said that he could have picked up over 500 wickets in Test cricket if there was enough backing after he completed 400 Test scalps.
The 41-year-old represented India in 103 Test matches and his last appearance in red-ball cricket for the national team was in 2015 against Sri Lanka. After the year 2011, Harbhajan played only 5 Test matches and he picked up 11 wickets.
“It always feels nice to have that support. I'll say that if I got the support at the right time, I would've retired much earlier after 500-550 wickets because I was 31 when I reach the 400-wicket mark. If I played 3-4 years more, I would've reached 500 wickets but that didn't happen,” he told Dainik Jagran.
Harbhajan further questioned the way players are treated in India and added that a player who has bagged 400 Test wickets shouldn't be seeking support.
“There were many reasons and if I dwell upon them, we would probably lose a lot of things. I never felt the need for support after 2001-02; I needed support after I took 400 wickets and if a player needs it after reaching that mark, I don't know how we take care of our players. There comes a time when you need to respect your players because they deserve it. But that decision lies with a certain set of people,” he said.
The off-spinner thanked India's ex-captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly for the backing. "However, I would like to say after the support I received from Sourav Ganguly in 2001-02, I never needed it again. But I needed the backing in 2012 and if I had received it, my career would've been even better and I had retired much earlier after 550 wickets," he added.
(With Dainik Jagran Inputs)
