Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has called for India to refuse to play against Pakistan in the upcoming Asia Cup, scheduled in the UAE from September 9. Speaking after participating in the recently concluded World Championship of Legends (WCL), Harbhajan highlighted that the Indian legends had earlier refused to play against Pakistan in both the group stage and semi-finals, citing the tragic Pahalgam terror attack as the reason.
The Indian team in the WCL included stalwarts like Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, and Suresh Raina, who took a principled stand. Harbhajan Singh stressed that “the nation comes first” and urged that the current Indian team, led by Suryakumar Yadav, should adopt a similar approach.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 — 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕,” 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒉𝒂𝒋𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂.
Harbhajan Singh criticizes media, Nation First, Cricket Second
Harbhajan Singh further emphasised India’s duty to prioritize the country over sports.
“𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕’𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓: ‘𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒐-𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕.’ 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
He also criticized the media for giving Pakistan excessive coverage, saying,
“𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆? 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆.”
India has been drawn into Group A alongside Oman, UAE, and Pakistan, while Group B includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, and Sri Lanka. The highly anticipated India vs Pakistan match is scheduled for September 14 in Dubai.
As defending Asia Cup champions, having defeated Sri Lanka by 10 wickets to claim their eighth title, India enters the tournament with a strong record. Harbhajan, also known as the Turbanator, reiterated the need for India to take a firm stand against Pakistan both on the field and in national media coverage.
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