Harbhajan Singh and Australians have a long-standing history. In 2001, the off-spinner rose to prominence in a home series against the Aussies after he picked up 32 wickets in three Tests, including a hat-trick at Kolkata.
A few years later in Australia, he and Andrew Symonds locked horns after the Indian spinner called Symonds a "monkey", a racially offensive dig. Harbhajan was tormented by everyone from Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting to young Michael Clarke.
Adam Gilchrist was Harbhajan Singh's second victim in the hat-trick in the Kolkata Test of 2001. Recently, a user on Twitter posted the video of Harbhajan's hat-trick, tagging him, Gilchrist and Shane Warne and the former Australian wicket-keeper quote tweeted it by lamenting that there was "no DRS" that time.
In 2001,Historic Kolkata Test, Bhajji takes a Hattrick V Steve Waugh's Invincible Aus Team. @harbhajan_singh became the 1st Indian to take a Test
— Piyush Glystar (@piyushgilly) August 28, 2019
Hat-trick🇮🇳🇮🇳
First RickyPonting√
Second- @gilly381
Third- @ShaneWarne √#GillyKingPair Hard to believe!
pic.twitter.com/Zkc6kdNRAw
No DRS 😩 https://t.co/3XsCqk9ZiR
— Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) August 31, 2019
What should have been taken in jester got out of hand as Harbhajan, wearing his heart on his sleeve like always, slammed Gilchrist and asked him to "stop crying".
"U think u would have survived for long if not first ball? Stop crying over these things mate..thought u would talk sense after ur playing days..but few things never change u r the prime example of that. Always crying�," Harbhajan wrote on Twitter in a tweet that was later deleted.
The Aussies aren't very unlike Harbhajan and don't take unwarranted taunts that come their way. Though Gilchrist strayed away from passing any comments, Joe Burns, a Test opener who has represented the Aussies, shut Harbhajan down with his tweet - "Get off the booze"
Get off the booze https://t.co/xorARSWBx1
— Joe Burns (@joeburns441) September 4, 2019
The war of words resumed with fans as an Australian fan quoted a wrong stat for Gilchrist against Harbhajan in a tweet which has also been deleted. An Indian journalist retorted with the correct numbers which were evidently in favour of Harbhajan.
Absolutely fake stats..
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) September 4, 2019
Harbhajan dismissed Gilchrist 7 times in 10 Tests. And Gilly averaged 38, not 132, against Bhajji. I admire Gilly as a cricketer but don't spread fake stuff. @harbhajan_singh @gilly381 https://t.co/W4AjDEC1WX
Harbhajan infamous run-ins with Aussies resumes long after his international career has ended.
To his credit, though, Harbhajan did point out the dedication of an Aussie teammate during the Indian T20 League final earlier this year between Mumbai and Chennai.
Lauding Watson's extraordinary effort, Harbhajan put up a post to show the world how Watson was batting with 6 stitches and a bloodied knee.
"Can you guys see the blood on his knee..he got 6 stitches after the game..got injured while diving but continue to bat without telling anyone
That's our @srwatson33
Almost pulled it for us last night"
Perhaps someone can remind Burns and Gilchrist about this?
Featured image courtesy: AFP / William West
