Still surprised Sachin didn’t bat in the nets during 2003 World Cup: Harbhajan Singh

New Delhi: No cricketer is perfect but if someone is close to perfection then only one name comes to mind of Harbhajan Singh and that is Sachin Tendulkar. Harbhajan told PTI ahead of Tendulkar’s 50th birthday, “Paaji (as Tendulkar is called by his junior teammates) is probably the cricketer who is very close to perfection.” He is certainly a role model as a person and a shining example of how one should live life with dignity and humility despite his innumerable supporters and god-like status in our country.

Harbhajan laughed when asked to share his memories with Tendulkar. He said, ‘There are many memories. He has acted as a guide in my life. There are many personal and emotional memories associated with him which I will reserve for my story but still I can share a few with you.” Harbhajan said that a short story would be enough to understand the genius of Tendulkar. During the 2003 World Cup played in South Africa, Paaji did not bat in the nets for a single day.

He said, “The Indian bowling attack was doing well but Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble or I did not bowl them a ball in the nets during the tournament.” Tendulkar scored over 600 runs in that tournament. Including the historic innings of 98 against Pakistan at Centurion in which he hit Shoaib Akhtar for a six over third man. Then, on how Tendulkar used to prepare for matches during the World Cup, Harbhajan said, “There were no throw-down machines at that time like today, but we had one man, Shyamal, who could hit Paaji 18 yards and sometimes- Sometimes used to throw down from 16 yards. He used to practice like this for hours.