What Sooryavanshi is Doing Today, No One Has Ever Done Before: Harbhajan

In the latest episode of JioHotstar special 'Cheeky Singles', Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla shared stories about bowlers' frustration when catches are dropped, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's fearless mindset, how accepting modern-day coaches have become, and the advice Harbhajan received from the Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar.

"Ashish Nehra and I are really close friends, he's like a brother to me. We spent a lot of time together in Delhi. Ashish Nehra's house was like my own house in those days. We had a match in Sri Lanka, and the ball went towards him. The poor guy was exhausted, he had just finished his spell. I was bowling and, instead of one run, it became two. So, I looked at him once. On the next delivery, the ball went there again, he threw it back casually, and the batters ran two again. This time, I yelled at him. Ashish was tired, so he yelled back. When he yelled, I yelled even louder! Anyway, we completely forgot about what had happened and, in the evening, we were chilling again, laughing and hanging out. After we returned home, Ashish's father stopped us and said, 'Have some shame! You both were on TV. What were you two doing out there?' I said, 'Uncle, when did all this happen? We don't even remember!'"

"The difference between today's youth and the youth back then is the reach of today's media and social media. Things happened back then too, but today they get highlighted a lot more. What Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is doing today, no one has ever done before. He is unbelievable, a great talent. I don't think I have seen or faced a talent like that. But I think the biggest change is that people are accepting players with that fearless mindset and their approach of playing the way they want to. Rahul Dravid was the coach of that team, and he asked Sooryavanshi, 'What will you do on the first ball?' He said, 'If the first ball is in my arc, I will smash it.' And he actually did. He hit a six off the very first ball he faced in his IPL career, against Shardul Thakur."

"I think our seniors were so good because they wanted us to play well and become better within our limitations. The best advice I ever got was from the great Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin paaji told me, 'There will be many distractions, many things will come your way, but you have to keep your blinders on, so that you can't look left or right, and only look straight ahead. And what lies ahead? Cricket! If you stay on this path, no one in the world can stop you. Whatever you want to become, whatever you want to do, you will earn every kind of respect, honour, and fame, everything, if you keep walking on this path.' So, I give the same advice to youngsters: keep your focus on the game. You are who you are because of the game. Don't think that you are bigger than the game. If your attitude isn't right, as much as this games provides, it also knows how to take it back just as quickly."

"Once in the IPL, when I was playing for Punjab, there was a season when it seemed like whenever the ball went up, Mandeep Singh was under it. That season, he dropped around seven or eight catches off my bowling. By the end of the season, I had around 12 or 13 wickets. I think it was the 2010 or 2011 season, and by the last match, I was completely frustrated. I started shouting. Adam Gilchrist was our captain at the time. He came over, took me aside, and explained very nicely, in English, that we were teammates and I shouldn't be shouting. So, I replied, 'I know he's my teammate, but does that mean he'll keep dropping catches in every match?' Later, when I met Mandeep during a Ranji Trophy game, I told Mandy that I wanted to apologise and that I was wrong. He said it was okay and that he had forgotten about it. But I told him, 'I didn't forget because I got a scolding in English from Gilchrist.'"