Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh strolled down memory lane to the infamous term made by former Australian opener Matthew Hayden during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2004.
Interestingly, Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan weren’t part of the playing XI for the third Test in Nagpur. Hayden termed their absence ‘greentrackitis’, indicating that the duo missed the Test because it was a green, grass-covered surface.
Speaking on ‘Midwicket Stories’, Bhajji disclosed that he wasn’t aware of such a statement being made, adding that he would have come up with a strong reply. However, the Turbanator revealed that he missed the Nagpur Test after being unwell.
“I had no idea. If I had known this was said, I’d definitely have replied. Now I can laugh about it. I had my own problem. I could not get up from the bed. I had no idea about the team meetings, who was playing, or what was going on and why Sourav did not play. I am hearing about it for the first time,” Harbhajan Singh said on ‘Midwicket Stories’.
Hayden, who was also part of the same conversation, revealed the reason behind using that term, stating that his team was shocked to see the green surface in India. Eventually, Australia went on to win that fixture by 342 runs and sealed the series 2-1 in the four-match tour.
“Greentrackitis. BCCI had gauged a curator and produced a green track out of nowhere in Nagpur. We were used to playing on wickets that were spinning and turning and bouncing. We were like, what happened? What happened to Harbhajan and Sourav? They did not play. I took the opportunity to needle them a bit. That wicket was built for us to win,” Matthew Hayden said.
