Will take legal action against Darrell Hair if necessary: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh

Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has said that he wouldn’t mind seeking a legal action against former international umpire Darrell Hair – for his recent comments related to the chucking crackdown – should the need arise.

Reacting to Hair’s claims that modern day spinners are trying to emulate the likes of Harbhajan, Muttiah Muralitharan and Saqlain Mushtaq and that the crackdown has been delayed by a couple of decades, Harbhajan, speaking to PTI, said: “I have no time for Darrell Hair’s nonsense. Who the hell is he? Is he bigger than the ICC? But if he tries to damage my reputation or belittle my achievements as an international cricketer with another provocative comment, I will be speaking to BCCI and seek legal action against Hair.”

Saqlain invented the doosra and I perfected it

The 34-year-old, who last played for India in March 2013, said: “Saqlain Mushtaq invented the doosra and I perfected the art. I am proud of having successfully executed the doosra. If some bowlers are not being able to bowl doosra within legal limits, it is not my look-out.”

He added: “Let me put a question for Mr Hair. He has officiated in a number of international matches in which I have bowled. Why didn’t he challenge the ICC then? Just when three bowlers are called, he wakes up and makes a random comment. He could not because he knew there was nothing wrong.

“And what does he mean by role models like Murali, Saqlain or Harbhajan? Did we teach them to bowl with suspect action?”

The off-spinner, whose decline in form coincided with the rise of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, a day earlier, had claimed that the 62-year-old had “gone mad”.