Harbhajan Singh reacts to Ambati Rayudu’s ‘Rohit Sharma moving to CSK’ claim
Just a day after the chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Arun Dhumal, confirmed that there would be a mega auction after the 2024 season, former India cricketer Ambati Rayudu expressed the desire to see Rohit Sharma feature in the Chennai Super Kings jersey in the near future, which could turn out to be a ground-breaking move amid the recent call made by Mumbai Indians over their captaincy.
India legend Harbhajan Singh was left utterly baffled at the remark from Rayudu, saying that the dynamics of the auction have always surprised him.
For the first time in 11 years, MI will not be led by Rohit in an IPL season. Reasoning it as a call taken on the back of his poor run of form with the bat over the last few seasons, Mumbai removed Rohit, who led the franchise to five titles, from captaincy duties last December and named Hardik Pandya the captain.
Given the massive step from MI and Chennai looking for MS Dhoni’s captaincy successor, Rayudu, in an interview with News 24, said that he wants to see Rohit in CSK. He said: “I want to see him play for CSK in the near future. He has played so long for Mumbai Indians. It would be nice if he can play for CSK and win there as well. That’s (captaincy at CSK) upon him. Rohit has earned the right to take that call. It’s his call on whether or not he wants to lead or not.”
When made aware of the statement from his former MI teammate during an interaction with Hindustan Times, Harbhajan was left perplexed at the possibility before admitting that he has never managed to understand auction dynamics.
“I really don’t know what CSK will do. The IPL auction has always been unpredictable. What goes on in that auction table…I have failed to crack that auction code yet,” he said on the sidelines of Legends Cricket Trophy, which is being played in Sri Lanka.
Harbhajan was, however, full of praise for Rohit and his captaincy, labelling it as one of the “positives” for India in the recently-completed England Test series.
“The biggest positive has been these young batters – Yashasvi, Jurel and Sarfaraz – and Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, who gave confidence to these youngsters to play with freedom, carry out their natural game and dish out their best performance. This is a huge plus for India, without Virat Kohli, winning from 0-1 down to 4-1. Credit to all the players, which includes the seniors in Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin, who achieved so many milestones,” he said.
A 90-ball tournament
The former India off-spinner is currently in Sri Lanka, participating in the newly-organised Legends Cricket Trophy, where he playing for Dubai Giants. It’s a league comprising seven franchises, with matches being played in a 90-ball format.
“It has four overs of powerplay, after which the batter can select the powerplay between overs 10 and 15. Meanwhile, the bowling team can give the ball to their best bowler for four overs instead of three. It’s a new concept. We also get the opportunity to play for or against some of our former teammates and opponents,” Harbhajan explained. “When a new format comes along, you take time to understand it. But this format is actually simple, yet unique in its own way because it gives the batting and the bowling team equal advantage in picking options, as mentioned before. And in terms of format, it’s neither a T10 nor a T20 game.”