Our Performance in the IPL showed that Age is Just a Number - Harbhajan Singh

For the 3^rd time, it was the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) who lifted the IPL title. It was last Sunday that Chennai Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final of the tournament to clinch the title for the 3^rd time in their history. It must be noted that CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been a long time teammate of Harbhajan. However, this year the duo represented the same franchise for the very first time.

Again it was a clinical performance by Chennai for the majority of the tournament. Dhoni revived his lost touch and smashed 29 sixes during IPL 2018. The former India skipper was consistent with the bat in hand and looked like the old vintage Dhoni. The same words were echoed by Harbhajan, as he stated it was good to see Dhoni bat up the order.

“He has been wonderful and it was good to see him batting up the order. He reminded me of the older version of Dhoni,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

Happy to see MS bat up the order – Bhajji

Dhoni scored 455 runs in the tournament and had arguably the best IPL season with the bat. He had batted up the order, a move which has impressed veteran spinner Harbhajan.

He further stated age is just a number. Chennai had at least ten players above the age group of 30. However, Bhajji feels in a tournament like IPL experience is more important than age.

“[Our performance] shows that age is just a number. If you are fit and you can run after a ball or score runs, then that should matter in the end and not how old you are on paper,” Harbhajan said.

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“We make mistakes by saying that players are 30 or 35. My question is, so what? When people are 20-21, they make mistakes in the middle by not thinking wisely. Nonetheless, the people in 30s are experienced as they have gone through these stages in their career, so they know when to react and how to react in pressure situations. That’s where experience comes to play,” Harbhajan said.

“With age, you know which shots to play and how to trap a batsman with the ball. Experience matters the most, and you have seen that with Chennai Super Kings,” he further added.

For Harbhajan, it wasn’t a great season. The seasoned campaigner bagged seven wickets in 13 games.

“It’s been a great outing for all of us. From the fans point of view, this is the best thing that has happened. They were waiting for CSK to come back and were very excited for the side,” he says, adding that not playing in Chennai was disappointing.

“We didn’t play much in Chennai, that’s very unfortunate. Yet, the crowd went to Pune to support. They were excited. A big team coming into the league is always good, and we have got perfect results,” Harbhajan said.

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