Melbourne: It seems as if the most bitter feud in world cricket is over with Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds calling a truce.
Putting behind the infamous “Monkeygate” scandal, Harbhajan told The Sunday Mail: “I think Andrew Symonds is a lovely guy.”
Both Harbhajan and Symonds play for the Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians and the “Turbanator” said that while sharing the same dressing room he had realised that the Aussie is a good person.
“I have played with him at the Mumbai Indians and I found out he is a really good guy. Me and Symo do not have any problems at all and we get on very well. I understand him now and I think he understands me,” insisted Harbhajan, who is not in India Test team for the upcoming series against Australia.
“I am really happy he is enjoying his life and all I want is the very best for him. I know some people have said that we don’t get on too well. We had some problems but that is all in the past. We are friends. We played well together for Mumbai,” he added.
Harbhajan and Symonds collided in 2008 at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the Indian allegedly called the later a monkey during a hot-blooded Test.
Reluctant to speak much about the Monkeygate episode, Harbhajan admitted that he and Symonds were influenced by factors beyond their control.”Whatever happened, it probably would have been dealt with straight away, but it got picked up by the media and it really got out of control.” (PTI)