Harbhajan Singh posts Tweet ridiculing Sri Lankan team, deletes post later
Harbhajan Singh may no longer be in the scheme of things as far the Indian national team is concerned but he has managed to stay around in the headlines, often for the wrong reasons.
A few months ago, he had criticised the Indian selectors and seemed to take a dig at MS Dhoni after being overlooked for the 2017 Champions Trophy, prompting angry reactions from various quarters.
Bhajji is set to find himself in hot water yet again, after posting a strongly worded Tweet ridiculing the Sri Lankan team, who are set to take on an in-form Indian side in their own backyard beginning with the Test series on November 16.
Sri Lanka had suffered an embarrassing whitewash against Virat Kohli's side in all three formats when the Indian side visited their island neighbours a few months ago.
Most cricket pundits have predicted a repeat this time around as well with the Indian team firing on all cylinders while the Sri Lankan side is struggling to get results going their way.
Sri Lanka's leading run-scorer in the Test series against India with 285 runs, Dimuth Karunaratne, however, sounded confident that Sri Lanka could turn things around.
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Harbhajan's controversial Tweet was a response to those comments but the offspinner's words went a bit too far than a direct reply to the Sri Lankan batsman's view.
Apart from the loss against India, Sri Lanka were also humbled at home by minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe with the 1996-World Cup winners struggling with injuries and yet to find able replacements for the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, and Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Lamenting their poor run of results, Harbhajan stated that Sri Lanka was not up to international level and indicated that a lot of work needed to be done to resurrect the side from the sorry state of affairs they find themselves in at the moment.
Realising that his words had gone a bit too far, Harbhajan deleted the post shortly but not before it had caught the attention of few. It will be interesting how the Sri Lankan team responds to Harbhajan's words with the Test series just a few days away.
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The three-match Test series begins at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday and will be followed by a 3-match ODI and 3-match T20I series before the Indian team heads to South Africa.