Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh tests positive for COVID-19

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has tested positive for COVID-19. Harbhajan on Friday (January 21) said that he has quarantined himself at home and is taking all the necessary precautions.

“I’ve tested positive for COVID with mild symptoms. I have quarantined myself at home and taking all the necessary precautions. I would request those who came in contact with me to get themselves tested at the earliest. Please be safe and take care,” Harbhajan tweeted.

In December last year, Harbhajan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 41-year-old has played 103 Tests, 236 ODIs and 28 T20Is for the Men-in-Blue. He has 294 wickets in limited-overs cricket.

I’ve tested positive for COVID with mild symptoms. I have quarantined myself at home and taking all the necessary precautions.
I would request those who came in contact with me to get themselves tested at the earliest. Please be safe and take care

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) January 21, 2022

He played his last red-ball match against Sri Lanka in 2015 while his last ODI was against South Africa in the same year. His last game for India was a T20I against UAE in the 2016 Asia Cup. Since then he was not picked for the Indian side.

Harbhajan retired after scalping 417 wickets in 103 Tests at an average of 32.46. The 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup winner is also the first Indian to take a Test hat-trick.

Overall, the Jalandhar- born cricketer has played 367 international games, claimed 711 international wickets and scored 3,569 international runs. 

Now, when Bhajji has finally hanged his boots, the legendary spinner has opened up about the treatment he received from some BCCI officials and made explosive revelations about his Indian cricket journey in an exclusive interview with Zee News.

“Luck has always favoured me. Just some external factors were not by my side and maybe, they were completely against me. This is because of the way I was bowling or the rate at which I was moving ahead. I was 31 when I took 400 wickets and if I would have played another 4-5 years, keeping in mind the kind of standards I had set for myself, I can tell you that I would have taken another 100-150 wickets or more,” Harbhajan told Zee News.

“Yes. MS Dhoni was the captain then but I think this thing was above Dhoni’s head. To a certain extent, there were some BCCI officials who were involved in this and they didn’t want me and the captain may have supported that but a captain can never be above the BCCI. The BCCI officials have always been bigger than the captain, coach, or the team,” he revealed.

(with ANI inputs)