File photo of Harbhajan Singh and Kamran Akmal
Two of the top former cricketers of their respective teams, Harbhajan Singh and Kamran Akmal, came face to face during the World Legends Championship match in England. The lively chat between the two made fans believe that the former Pakistan star’s controversial “Sikh joke” on Arshdeep Singh was probably a topic of discussion. Kamran has now come out and admitted that it was a topic of discussion between the two. But there was another issue that he raised during the chat, following which Harbhajan apologised.
Akmal had made a racist joke about Sikhs as a commentator for a Pakistani channel during the 2024 T20 World Cup. When the video of his joke went viral on social media, Harbhajan slammed him. The former Pakistani wicketkeeper also apologised later.
“(There are many people who do not know where they are and how they feel.) I made a mistake and that was the only topic that was discussed. It was never my intention and I can never think negatively about anyone’s religion. I have made that clear. It should be done because I am younger, they are older and a big spin bowler in Indian and world cricket,” Akmal was quoted as saying by Paktv.tv, speaking about the chat he had with Harbhajan.
During the T20 World Cup final between India and South Africa, Harbhajan Singh was also roped in as a commentator by Star Sports. During a show on the channel, Harbhajan laughed out loud when the topic of a comparison between Pakistani Babar Azam and West Indies legend Brian Lara came up.
Kamran revealed that he brought the matter to the attention of Bhajji during the chat and stressed that he was wrong to mock Babar in such a manner. The retired Indian presenter admitted his mistake in the matter.
“We then spoke and you might have seen Babar being mocked. No doubt, Babar is also a great batsman in Pakistan cricket; he has scored the most hundreds for Pakistan. No doubt, the class of Brian Lara and Babar are not equal and they should not be compared. But as cricketers, we should not mock anyone. So I spoke about it and he (Harbhajan) also agreed that that should not have happened from his side as well,” he explained.
Topics mentioned in this article
