Andrew Symonds reveals Harbhajan Singh called him monkey multiple times before the 'monkeygate' scandal
A decade after the infamous 'monkeygate' scandal that had ruined India-Australia’s cricketing relations forever, Andrew Symonds has revealed that Harbhajan Singh had called him a monkey on previous occasions as well. The all-rounder also detailed how his career spiralled down following the incident.
The Indian off-spinner was suspended for three matches despite him refuting Symonds’ claims but it had to be overturned soon after India threatened to forfeit their tour altogether. It was one of the darkest days in the India-Australia ties, both in terms of cricket and political relations. And ten years later, when Cricket Australia is going through another dark hour, Symonds hasn’t changed his previous claims and added that Harbhajan had actually called him a monkey “probably two or three times” before things went out of hand.
The 43-year-old, who later played alongside Harbhajan Singh for the Mumbai Indians side of IPL, stated that Australia wasn’t the first time when Harbhajan had abused him, but he had also done it in India before following which Symonds had even warned him.
“I'd spoken to Harbhajan the series before in India, he'd called me a monkey before in India. I went into their dressing room and said, 'Can I speak to Harbhajan for a minute outside please?' So he came outside and I said, 'Look, the name-calling's got to stop or else it's going to get out of hand," Symonds revealed, reported AFP.
Symonds also went on to narrate how his cricketing career took a severe hit following the incident and media speculations that led to CA withdrawing his contract and eventually sending him home from World Twenty20 owing to alcohol-related indiscretions.
“From that moment on that was my downhill slide. I started to drink heavily as a result of it and my life was starting to dissolve around me. I felt the pressure and the weight of dragging those mates of mine into the cauldron of this cesspit that should never have got to this sort of point where we felt guilty.
"I was dealing with it the wrong way. I felt guilty that I'd dragged my mates into something I didn't think they deserved to be involved in," Symonds added.
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