Controversies made me stronger - Harbhajan

For Australia and Harbhajan Singh, the 2008 summer will mostly be remembered for all the wrong reasons. No other personality was flashed across the front and back pages of Australian newspapers as much as Harbhajan was, not even Wayne Carey, the misbehaving AFL legend. Over the past two months, not a day went by without the hacks dedicating some space to Harbhajan.

Despite all the controversies that robbed him of any peace of mind, Harbhajan said that he would love to be back in Australia. "I love challenges and though people were booing me, I tried to ignore it," he said in the aftermath of India beating Australia 2-0 in the CB Series finals.

The controversy started during the Sydney Test where the Australians complained about his alleged racial abuse of Andrew Symonds. Thereafter, the Australians trained their gaze on the Indian offspinner, instead of keeping their focus on the field. The acrimony only grew deeper with each team closing ranks around their man.

Then, last Sunday, during the first final, prominent Australian newspapers published pictures and quoted spectators who said that Harbhajan had spat at them and made monkey-like gestures similar to those that Symonds had been subjected to by the crowds at certain Indian venues last October. Harbhajan categorically denied the reports and Jeff Crowe, the match referee, cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's captain, has staunchly supported Harbhajan, and he felt that the furore had deflected attention from some outstanding cricket. "In the controversy, some of the best innings by us, the Australians and the Sri Lankans were forgotten," he said, addressing the media with the trophy in front of him.

Harbhajan has maintained that the partisan crowds at every venue only made him that much more determined to succeed. He said that he drew strength from the revered Sikh saint, Guru Gobind Singh. He even quoted him. "Sawa lakh se ek ladaun, tabhi Gobind Singh naam kahaun [One Sikh is enough for 125,000 people]".

After almost three months of relentless scrutiny from the local media, Dhoni said that the Indian team had grown immune to everything written about them. He couldn't resist a small dig either. "I don't know what will happen to the Australian media without Bhajji [Harbhajan]," he said with a smile. "He was always there on the front page. He became a Michael Jackson sort of personality."

Dhoni felt that Harbhajan, and the rest of the Indians, grew stronger in the face of criticism. "The Aussie media criticism worked in our favour and we got used it after almost three months."

Harbhajan said that it had been a memorable trip on the whole, and that he had been treated well by the locals away from the playing field. "It's not like all Australians were against me," he said. "When I went out to eat or something, people met me nicely. But, yes, on the field there were a lot of unnecessary things spoken. I tried to ignore all of it, and it just made me stronger."

So much for mental disintegration.