Bitter foes in the Sydney Test racial row, Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds have buried the hatchet and are friends now with Sachin Tendulkar helping his IPL side Mumbai Indians team-mates in doing that, according to a report here.
Three years of seething animosity triggered by the “Monkeygate” scandal of the 2008 Sydney Test has ended thanks to the Indian Premier League, with both the feisty players forming a bond at Mumbai Indians, The Australianreported.
The newspaper said Tendulkar played a part in ending one of the most talked-about feuds. “India's Test legend Sachin Tendulkar has been front and centre in healing their wounds as Symonds relishes his role of small fish in the big Mumbai pond next to World Cup heroes Tendulkar and Harbhajan,” the report said.
Symonds, who was stinging in his criticism of Harbhajan as recently as last October, refused to speak much about the new bonding but his manager confirmed the truce.
“I'm not really doing any interviews, sorry — but it's all good here,” Symonds was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
His manager Matt Fearon said Symonds has left the ‘monkeygate' wounds behind.
“That's definitely the case. They've left everything in the past. The auction for the IPL was in January. I remember calling him and saying, well, you're going to Mumbai — with Harbhajan. He said two words: ‘Aw, true?'
“That said it all. He was a bit speechless. It would be fair to say there was a bit of uncertainty about how it would play out. There was an unknown there but yes, they are getting on great. They are both competitive animals. When two people like that are on different teams, there can be some very real tension. But put them in the same team and it's a different story,” Fearon said.
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