They Said I Have Testicles On My Head, To Hear Such An Insult Towards My Religion Was Difficult – Harbhajan Singh Opens Up On ‘Monkeygate’ Incident
Published - 29 Jan 2022, 04:16 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:04 AM
Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has opened up on the ‘Monkeygate’ incident and said that he was being told that he has testicles on his head and it was difficult for him to hear such an insult towards his religion.
Harbhajan Singh, who had a massively successful international career, was involved in a massive controversy during the India tour of Australia 2007-08, which is known as the ‘Monkeygate’ scandal.
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Australia captain Ricky Ponting had complained to the on-field umpires that Harbhajan had called Andrew Symonds “monkey” and when the matter was reported to match referee Harbhajan was found guilty and he was banned for three games.
The Indian team and management were not happy with the decision as they believed that Harbhajan had used the Hindi phrase ‘Teri maa ki’ which Australians misunderstood as a monkey.
Later the racism charge against the spinner was dropped. His punishment was reduced and he was just fined 50 per cent of his match fee.
Speaking on ‘Backstage with Boria’, Harbhajan said that he was disturbed after that incident blew up.
“Obviously I was disturbed, I couldn’t understand why it was happening. Why was there so much of… for something that hadn’t happened. They had six or seven witnesses for something that I had not spoken to. No one had heard it and yet it was blown out of proportion.”
Harbhajan Singh added that he was being told on the ground that ‘you have testicles on your head’ and still he didn’t open his mouth because it would have resulted in more controversies.
“The things that were said to me (while being) on the ground, ‘you have testicles on your head’, to hear such an insult towards my religion was the most difficult thing for me. I didn’t open my mouth then because if I did so, it would have resulted in more controversies.”
"They said I have testicles on my head" says @harbhajan_singh opening up on #Monkygate What was he going through mentally? How did he deal with it all? #BackstageWithBoria #Promo pic.twitter.com/8FAE7J5meF
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) January 29, 2022
Only I know how I spent time alone in my room during that difficult period – Harbhajan Singh
“Only I know how I spent time alone in my room during that difficult period. I didn’t try to talk much with the players or management. They were anyways backing me throughout the incident. I didn’t want to stress others with what I was going through. I had to deal with it in whatever way I could, and I am glad that I could and still go out there and play and win a few games for India in Australia.”
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