The 2008 ‘Monkeygate’ incident in Australia is one of the most infamous incidents of Harbhajan Singh’s illustrious career. After his retirement on Friday, the veteran off-spinner opened up on the episode and promised to reveal his part of the story soon.
For those who don’t know, this incident happened during the Sydney Test in 2008 which shook Indian cricket. The acrimonious tussle between Harbhajan and former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds took an ugly turn. On the last day of the game, the then captain Ricky Ponting complained to the umpires that the Indian off-spinner had racially insulted the all-rounder. While India lost the Test by 122 runs, the players were forced to undergo judicial trials as the matter progressed.
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Harbhajan said that this was probably the biggest low of his cricket career. He never spoke about it publicly but he made sure that he would bring out the truth soon.
“It was something that was not needed. Whatever happened in Sydney that day should not have happened and also what caused it. It was really unnecessary. But forget who said what. You and I both know that truth has two sides.’
“Nobody cared about my side of the truth in the whole episode. No one paid any attention to what I was doing in those few weeks and how mentally I was sinking. I never explained my side of the story in detail but people will know about it in my upcoming autobiography. The phase I went through should not have happened to anyone.”
The 41-year-old further spoke about the injury he suffered during the tour of England in 2011. He had tears in his stomach and by the time he could recover, he was left behind in the Peking order. Therefore, he was no longer a regular in the dressing room.
“If at that time, if someone had taken care of me and in a broader sense, how Indian cricket handled its players, maybe my career would have been different. But no regrets. Those who were about to make decisions did what they thought was right. So, I have nothing to say. Yes, I was bitter then, but now when I look at things, there is no bitterness,” he said.
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