Former Indian cricket team spinner Harbhajan Singh slammed the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee for ignoring Ranji Trophy record-holder Jalaj Saxena despite 17 years of playing in the domestic circuit. Saxena holds the unique distinction of being the only player to have 400 wickets and 6000 runs to his name in Ranji Trophy history. However, he once again did not make the cut when the India A team was announced for the matches against Australia A. In response to a tweet mentioning Saxena's record, Harbhajan asked whether domestic tournaments are getting irrelevant with players getting picked from the IPL.
“Agree with you. He should be considered at least for India A. Useless of playing Ranji now? People are getting picked from IPL," Harbhajan replied.
Following India's 3-0 series defeat against New Zealand at home, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh said that it was a disappointing defeat for the Rohit Sharma-led side.
In the third match of the Test series against New Zealand, Ajaz Patel and Glenn Phillips unleashed a spin web on the Indian batter, spinning them towards history as NZ beat India by 25 runs and become the first visiting side to whitewash India in India in a series of three or more matches.
India started the series on a disappointing note after the hosts conceded an eight-wicket defeat against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
In the Pune Test, Rohit Sharma-led India tried to make a comeback in the three-match series, however, the hosts ended up losing against New Zealand by 113 runs.
Speaking to ANI, Harbhajan said that before the series started everyone expected that India would win the three-match Tests by 3-0. He also praised New Zealand and said that Tom Latham's side outplayed the hosts and took advantage of the condition.
"This entire series has been quite disappointing for all of us. When New Zealand came here, the expectation was that the result would be 3-0 and India would win the series. I can only say that they outplayed us and they took advantage of those conditions...," Harbhajan told ANI.
(With ANI inputs)