"Thought he was going to give a sound thrashing" - Harbhajan Singh recalls his fiery on-field altercation with Ricky Ponting in 1998

Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh recently recalled an unpleasant on-field altercation with Ricky Ponting during his debut series in international cricket in 1998. It happened during the Tri-Series between India, Australia, and New Zealand in Sharjah that year.

During the sixth match of the series, Ricky Ponting raced to 31 (26), smashing four fours and a six before Harbhajan Singh dismissed him via stumping by the wicket-keeper. The off-spinner then proceeded to celebrate aggressively, resulting in a heated moment with the batter.

In the latest episode of 'Kutti Stories with Ash', Ravichandran Ashwin enquired Harbhajan about the reasons behind the heated exchange with Ponting after dismissing him in that game. Singh replied (13:50):

"Those days my English was not good. We had never played against each other. And I heard our seniors in the team use a particular word. I thought the F-word was very cool. So, he hit me for a six, and hit me for a boundary through covers. He stepped out the very next ball, but it was a doosra. He completely missed it and got out and the moment he got out, I went all animated and gesticulated things."

The 45-year-old admitted that he was not aware of the meaning of the word he used back then.

"And, honestly, I didn’t know the meaning of it to be honest. I was trying to be cool and dialled up the aggression as always. And he charged towards me, and I was like, ‘What happened to him?’ Suddenly, I was on the back foot. I thought he was going to give a sound thrashing if he caught hold of me," he added.

Harbhajan finished with figures of 8-0-63-1 in the game.

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"100% match fees, and next match ban" - Harbhajan Singh on punishment after the incident

During the same interaction with Ashwin, Harbhajan opened up that things seemed normal after the game, as he apologized and had a conversation with the match referee along with his captain, Mohammad Azharuddin.

"Suddenly, the match referee called me after the game. Azhar bhai was next to me. Luckily, Talat Ali was the match referee who spoke Hindi. And he asked me if I knew what I told Ponting. Azhar bhai asked the referee to let it slide since I was young and didn’t know what I was saying. He tried to convince the referee. Anyways, the game was over, I said sorry, everything felt okay," Singh disclosed.

However, he still received a punishment for his actions in the end.

"While leaving, I received a memo that read, “100% match fees, and next match ban,” the legendary spinner concluded.

Harbhajan Singh played four matches in that series and ended up picking five wickets. India eventually won the trophy by beating Australia in the summit clash, courtesy of a match-winning 134 (131) from Sachin Tendulkar in a chase of 273. Singh missed the final as he served his one-match ban.