Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh appeared in an interview recently and recalled his expulsion from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru in 2000. He explained what actually went wrong that saw the player tearing up the diet chart, which led to his removal.
Harbhajan, a right-arm off-spinner, went on to play for India from 1998 to 2016. He picked up more than 600 international wickets during his career. While talking about the NCA incident, Harbhajan revealed that the food being provided there did not match the specific diet chart that he was mandated to follow. The spinner said that it remained unchanged despite multiple complaints, which eventually led to his outburst.
“They removed me from there. It was not my mistake, I say this openly even today. It was our right. The food was not good there. Back then, the rules and regulations were such that we were told and taught a lot, and a chart was put up for the diet. But we were not getting food as per that diet. Despite complaining many times, the food did not improve. So one day I tore that chart. This was my only mistake, that I tore the chart,” the former India spinner said on cricketnextofficial.
Harbhajan was part of the first group of trainees who were sent to train at the National Cricket Academy back in 2000. He claimed that there were certain people in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) who could not tolerate anybody going against them.
“But maybe till someone does something like this, things don’t change. I was fighting for the rights. If I had not stood up, even today the same diet plan would have been followed. The plan changed, I was also removed, that is a different thing, but it was not my fault. There were some people in the BCCI who did not want someone who could stand up and question them,” Harbhajan added.