Harbhajan Singh Cropped MSD Photo

Harbhajan Singh is without a doubt one of India’s most talented off-spinners. Without a question, he has been a huge devotee of Indian Cricket, and he played a key part in India’s two World Cup victories under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy. In Ganguly’s era, he was definitely one of the most successful match winners.

In Indian Cricket, September 24 will be remembered as a significant day since it was on this day in 2007 that India won the inaugural T20 World Cup. Because the Indian team was made up of many young and inexperienced players at that time, that’s why it was a truly stunning victory. The MS Dhoni-led team, on the other hand, overcame the odds and won the prestigious trophy in South Africa.

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But Harbhajan has always seemed to have conflicting sentiments towards Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whom he refers to as a good friend.

Harbhajan Singh ms dhoni
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Harbhajan’s old grudge against MSD

It is not like fans and media are exaggerating this because of some moments and anecdotes but Harbhajan did so many things that became suspicious in the public’s eyes. Maybe it is all because, before the 2011 World Cup, MSD and Harbhajan were close friends, but their friendship deteriorated after Harbhajan was replaced by R Ashwin.

One of the famous anecdotes is that when he questioned MSD’s selection in the Champions Trophy team in 2017, right before the tournament, and voiced his dissatisfaction at not having the same privileges as MS Dhoni.

Not only this, Harbhajan Singh even refused to comment on MS’s retirement from test cricket in 2014 when the media asked him to. On Twitter, he greets Irfan Pathan and Pragyan Ojha a happy retirement, but not MSD, under whom he played test cricket for five years.

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In 2016, he wished Saurav Ganguly on Twitter on July 8th and praised him as the greatest Indian captain of all time, however, he did not post a birthday tweet for Dhoni on July 7th. In the same year, he praised Wridhiman Saha as the Best Wicket-keeper on Twitter, indirectly a jab at Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Even after India lost in the World Cup semifinals to Australia in 2015, Harbhajan remarked that reaching the semifinals of the competition was not a huge achievement because the defending champions were expected to reach at least the semifinals. In short, Harbhajan’s post-World Cup 2011 remarks have always been aimed against MS Dhoni, either directly or indirectly.

But when Harbhajan Singh was released by his previous IPL team Mumbai Indians in 2018, only then Harbhajan Singh chose to modify his tone regarding MS Dhoni because of his induction in CSK. He began praising MSD in all of his interviews from that point forward.

Harbhajan Singh ms dhoni banter
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But that doesn’t mean he does the same thing every time. And this is all nothing more than suspicions.

The same thing happened recently too when fans on social media alleged that Harbhajan cropped MSD’s picture from the throwback picture of the World cup where the whole team is lifting the title. Many fans and players reflected on India’s spectacular victory, which had been 14 years in the making.

Harbhajan Singh, a veteran Indian off-spinner who was a member of the victorious squad, was also among them. The 40-year-old uploaded a flashback photo of the squad winning the championship on Twitter. The caption said,

“When your FAITH becomes stronger than your FEAR… then your dream can become a reality #champions #T20WorldCup2007 #TeamIndia.”

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While celebratory responses poured in, some angry netizens accused Harbhajan of cutting Dhoni out of the photograph. The star cricketer appears to have included a trophy emoji in the bottom left corner of the image. The fan assumed Dhoni was behind the trophy emoji and that Harbhajan had purposefully clipped him from the post.

A Twitter user wrote,

“Nice Bhai, Nicely Cropped MSD Photo.”

Nice Bhai Nicely Croped MSD Photo
SibiKvs/Twitter

He was not amused when he saw the remark and decided to return it to the fan with proof. To silence the troll, he uploaded the genuine photo without the trophy emoji. He wrote,

“Now u can lick what u see in the picture I cropped.”

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The image revealed that the emoticon was concealing a photographer rather than MS Dhoni in the shot. That’s why elder ones say that don’t speculate based on your assumptions. Harbhajan trolled this fan so brutally.

In the end, all we have to say is that both Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh both are assets for India and instrumental in leading India to victory in the prestigious T20 competition. They both are currently competing in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

The off-spinner is a member of the Kolkata-based IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders while the former Indian captain leads Chennai Super Kings. Both experienced players have struggled to make an impression in the tournament till now and I would love to see them improving their games. Let’s hope that their victorious days will come again.

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As a seasoned content writer with a passion for storytelling, Vaishali strives to capture the essence of current events and share impactful stories with a global audience. With a background in journalism and a commitment to delivering accurate, timely, and engaging news content, she aims to shed light on diverse perspectives and provide insightful analysis. Throughout her career, she has honed her skills in researching and writing, ensuring that readers receive comprehensive and compelling content to read. For the last 2 years, she has worked on various beats, from entertainment and sports to national and global politics.