Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh. (Credits: Twitter)

Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh has hilariously trolled his IPL teammate Suresh Raina after the latter said that he skipped school in order to watch Sachin Tendulkar’s ‘Desert Storm’. One of the greatest ODI knocks of all time, the Desert Storm was played by Tendulkar against Australia in 1998.

Against an attack having the likes of Shane Warne, Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz, Tendulkar smashed a stunning 143 in the 6th match of the Coca Cola Cup at Sharjah. The legendary batsman had waged a lone battle as his teammates failed to deliver. India eventually lost the game by 26 runs, after getting a revised target of 276 in 46 overs due to a sand storm.

Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina. Credit: BCCI

Tendulkar’s century was later christened the ‘Desert Storm’ after play was suspended for nearly half an hour while the wild sand storm swept through the stadium. Tendulkar, however, helped India score the required 237 to edge out New Zealand and qualify for the final two days later which they won by 6 wickets to lift the Coca Cola Cup. Tendulkar starred in the final too, scoring 134 in India’s successful run chase of 273.

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Recalling that famous knock, Suresh Raina recently said that he bunked school to watch the game. The southpaw, who was studying in his 12th grade at the time, said that he never missed Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid’s batting.

“We used to bunk the last two periods of school because the tournament in Sharjah was going on. Sachin paaji used to open in that era.

“Paaji ki batting hi dekhte the uss time pe, ya Rahul (Dravid) bhai. Paaji out hote the to fir nikal lete the ghar (we used to watch only Sachin’s batting, or Dravid’s; but once Sachin got out, we would leave for home),” Raina, who won the 2011 World Cup with Tendulkar, told the Times of India.

Harbhajan Singh pulls Raina’s legs:

Harbhajan Singh, however, has questioned Raina’s claims, asking him how he could bunk school to watch Tendulkar’s knock when the match itself started at 4pm IST. Schools in India don’t generally go beyond 2-3pm in the country.

“School bunk how ? That game started at 4 pm indian time I was part of the series,” Harbhajan Singh wrote on Twitter along with the news article of Raina’s interview.

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