"It's a mystery for me as well" - Harbhajan Singh on why the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian team never played together again
Harbhajan Singh feels it's mysterious why the 2011 World Cup-winning Indian team never played together again.
The MS Dhoni-led side defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in April 2011 to win India their second ODI World Cup title. However, the same XI did not feature for India again, either due to injuries or lack of form.
During an interaction with News24 Sports, Harbhajan was asked why the 2011 World Cup final team never played together for India again, to which he responded:
"I don't know that. They were probably used till the World Cup only and it's a mystery for me as well why that team never assembled again even for one match, which is very surprising. I wish things could be taken back and rectified."
The former Indian spinner was further asked whether he would like to play a match along with the rest of the team members now, to which he replied:
"It will be good if we come together and play a game. It will be great fun but very unfortunate that the team didn't assemble again and didn't play another tournament or even one match."
While the rest of the team members played ODIs after the World Cup win, Sreesanth never represented India in the 50-over format after the final. The Kerala pacer was an injury replacement for Ashish Nehra in the title decider and went wicketless while conceding 52 runs in the eight overs he bowled.
"People who were winning games, they were no more good" - Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh questioned why the World Cup-winning team wasn't considered good enough thereafter, stating:
"It is beyond my understanding that the team was very good until we won the 2011 World Cup but suddenly so many changes in that team after that. People who were winning games, they were no more good."
The cricketer-turned-commentator was also asked whether some more members from the 2011 side could have played in the 2013 Champions Trophy and the 2015 World Cup, to which he responded:
"There were some players in that team for whom it seemed like it was their last World Cup but there were quite a few players who could have played. Yes, we were aged but we could have played."
Harbhajan observed that apart from him, the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir could have played longer for India. However, he added that it is worthless to talk about it now and concluded by expressing his gratitude to the Almighty for helping him play as long as he did.