'Selectors were against me, but Sourav Ganguly backed me,' says Harbhajan Singh

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowler Harbhajan Singh recently revealed that former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly backed him to the hilt. The off-spinner even claimed that the Indian national selectors were against him and that they told him things he cannot disclose to the public.

Speaking on Aakash Chopra's official YouTube channel, Harbhajan Singh touched upon a variety of topics, including the support of one of India's greatest captains. Bhajji said that Ganguly backed him when no one else did, and credited his success to Dada.

"I was once at a stage in life where I didn’t know who was with me and who was not. Because people on my face were saying that they are with me, but many of them were not with me at the time. But at the time, Sourav Ganguly backed me when I had zero backing.”

“The selectors were against me, they told me a lot of things on my face which I cannot disclose. No amount of praise I could give Ganguly, would be sufficient. If he was not the captain at the time, I don’t know if any other captain could have backed me as much.”

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Harbhajan Singh also mentioned that the Prince of Calcutta gave him ample freedom while bowling, especially with respect to field placements.

“If you want 4-5 fielders in front to take catches, he would let you place them. Sometimes, we would ask ourselves if we should push back a fielder, but he would say, ‘no, let him be in front. If we put him in front, we would create chances. If he hits boundaries, let him hit boundaries. We are looking to get him out’. You need captains who would back you. This was his best quality.”

In the freewheeling chat, he even spoke about India's ignominious 2007 World Cup exit and criticised Greg Chappell for the same.

The Turbanator is the second-highest wicket-taker across all formats for India and has played under various excellent captains in Ganguly, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma. However, according to Harbhajan Singh, Sourav Ganguly is the one to be thanked.