Brett Lee (L) and Harbhajan Singh© X (Twitter)
Legendary Australian cricket team fast bowler Brett Lee recalled his ‘sledging’ wars with Harbhajan Singh and said that he ‘hated’ bowling against the former India spinner. Lee revealed that Harbhajan used to come up with bizarre antics while batting against him and on many occasions, that ended up impacting his momentum. Harbhajan used to talk constantly in order to gain an upper hand against Lee and the former Australia cricketer said that it was usual for players from both sides to engage in such an on-field war of words.
“Harbhajan Singh. I hated bowling to him because he used to annoy the hell out of me, and I’ve told him this. He is an absolute legend of a bloke; I hope he hears this because – and he knows – he used to frustrate the sh** out of me when I bowled to him. He would sledge and he would hop in and going after me ‘You’re quick’. I could never get him; I was always exhausted,” Lee said on LiSTNR Sport podcast.
“When he came in to bat, it was at the wrong end of a spell. When I said ‘Mate, you’re a bloody ripping bloke. Why don’t you show me how good you are or now nice you are? He goes ‘because I like that edge. I want to come across as if I am arrogant, or a person who is chirping in. So he was giving it back to us what we gave to them. Lovely guy.”
Lee further said that the famous 2001 Test series where India defeated an in-form Australia was probably the time when Indian players gained confidence and since then, they have been equally aggressive on the field as their Australian opponents.
“It started in that game when Rahul Dravid and Plumbing Laxman batted the whole day. I was injured at home, watching it with my arm in a sling. It was them saying ‘We can match Australia. Not just match; we can beat them’. And now with Kohli, I love the way Kohli plays. He is such a good player… with that aggression. And you’ve got different guys like back in the day, MS Dhoni… didn’t say anything. Just did what he had to do and wouldn’t back down,” added Lee.
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