Veteran India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Monday (June 1) trolled Suresh Raina for the latter’s claim that he bunked school to watch Sachin Tendulkar's iconic knocks against Australia in Sharjah in 1998 when the one-day match itself started at 4 PM IST.
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On April 22, 1998, Tendulkar had powered India into the final of the tri-series with a dazzling knock of 143 from 131 balls versus Australia.
Even though India failed to chase down a total of 276 in 46 overs, the Men in Blue qualified for the final, where Sachin produced 131-ball 134 to script his team’s six-wicket victory against the Steve Waugh-led side.
Recalling those special innings, Raina, in a recent interview with TOI, said: "We used to bunk the last two periods of school because the tournament in Sharjah was going on. Sachin paaji used to open in that era.”
"Paaji ki batting hi dekhte the uss time pe, ya Rahul (Dravid) bhai. Paaji out hote the to fir nikal lete the ghar (we used to watch only Sachin's batting, or Dravid's; but once Sachin got out, we would leave for home)," the southpaw added.
But Raina's claim was questioned by Harbhajan, who was part of the Indian squad in that tri-series involving New Zealand as well.
The Turbanator wondered how Raina bunked school to watch those games which started at 4 PM in India, whereas schools don't go beyond 2-3 PM in the country.
"School bunk how ? That game started at 4 pm indian time I was part of the series," Harbhajan tweeted along with the news article of Raina's interview.
