Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has finally let his heart out, asking BCCI officials why the likes of him, Yuvraj Singh and other 2011 World Cup winners were thrown out of the squad one by one. He said the same team which won India the World Cup, was no longer good enough to play the 2015 World Cup. India beat Sri Lanka in the World Cup final by six wickets to become the World Champions after a gap of 28 years.
“You also know what those officials were doing, what was happening in Indian cricket at that time and which section of people were playing, and how others were being ignored. If we were good enough to win the World Cup in 2011, why didn’t we play even a single match together after that? Was that team good enough just to win the World Cup and became worse after that?”, wondered Harbhajan Singh.
“Were 31-year-old Harbhajan Singh, 30-year-old Yuvraj Singh, 32-year-old Virender Sehwag, 29-year-old Gautam Gambhir who played in 2011, not good enough to play in the World Cup team of 2015? Why were they removed from the team one by one? Why were they treated like ‘Use and Throw’? It’s a sad story of Indian cricket. I don’t know what’s happening now but till 2011 a lot of people helped me, a lot of them pulled my leg. But after 2012 they pulled my leg to throw me out completely”, the veteran offie added.
Soon after India’s win, BCCI put in a rotation policy with a number of young players replacing the above-mentioned names. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took centerstage which meant the seniors or the class of 2011 was phased out. The likes of Gambhir, Yuvraj, Harbhajan, and Virender Sehwag never played a game together after the 2011 World Cup final. With four of them not even making it to the 2015 World Cup squad.
