'Don't know what he's smoking nowadays. Please someone give him...': Harbhajan slaughters Najam Sethi on 'weather' tweet
Harbhajan Singh hit back at Najam Sethi over his tweet on Asia Cup schedule after the decision was made to retain all Super 4 games in Colombo.
Even as the Asia Cup entered its Super Four stage earlier this week, the ongoing tussle over scheduling continues to cast a shadow over the tournament. The scheduling – originally planned to be hosted entirely in Pakistan – for this continental competition experienced significant delays. Sri Lanka was eventually picked as co-hosts alongside Pakistan due to security concerns and as the tournament began, weather disruptions have plagued the matches in Sri Lanka, with the highly-anticipated clash between India and Pakistan being abandoned due to rain.
Former PCB Managing Committee Chairman Najam Sethi, who was in charge during the Asia Cup schedule announcement, expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation in Sri Lanka. Following the decision to keep all games in Colombo, Sethi took another dig at the BCCI as rain forecasts loomed over the upcoming days in the region.
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Sethi posted on X (formerly Twitter): “BCCI/ACC informed PCB today that they had decided to shift next India-Pak match from Colombo to Hambantota because of rain forecasts. Within one hour they changed their mind and announced Colombo as the venue. What's going on? Is India afraid to play and lose to Pakistan Look at the rain forecast!”
Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has now reacted to Sethi's remark, vehemently criticising Najam Sethi for insinuating that India is “afraid” about facing Pakistan. In response to Sethi's allegation that India was evading matches against Pakistan, Harbhajan suggested that historical records illustrating India's numerous triumphs over Pakistan in past encounters should be presented to counter such claims.
"Don't know what Najam Sethi is smoking nowadays. I don't know how is he saying that they were the favourites or India does not want to play Pakistan," Harbhajan Singh said on Sports Today.
"Please someone give him the whole record where India have beaten them more number of times whenever they have played against each other. This is baseless kind of a thing for him, with the kind of stature that he holds at this moment for Pakistan cricket.
Harbhajan further challenged Sethi that India can beat Pakistan on any venue.
"He says, India does not want to play Pakistan because India is scared. India is never scared to play anyone. Don't know where this is coming from. They needed to sit with the Asian Cricket Council and see where the tournament is going to be held.
“Whether the weather forecast was right or not. Boss, come and play us wherever you want, we will beat you.”
Rematch coming up
India's path to the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup 2023 was sealed with an emphatic 10-wicket win over Nepal in their concluding Group B fixture. Their upcoming challenge is a rematch against their arch-rivals, Pakistan, in a highly anticipated clash on Sunday. With the first encounter between these two cricketing giants abandoned due to rain, the stakes will be even higher for their upcoming showdown.
