We hugged for the first time: Harbhajan recalls when he and Symonds 'apologised' to each other, 'Never felt animosity'

Harbhajan Singh said that both he and Andrew Symonds felt that the differences between them, which went on to be defined by the infamous 'Monkeygate' could have been solved in a more amicable manner.

Harbhajan Singh has admitted that both he and former Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds felt that the differences between the two, which reached its peak during the infamous ‘Monkeygate’ in 2008, could have been solved in a more amicable manner. Harbhajan and Symonds were at the centre of the row in the fractious 2007/08 Test series and the pair went on to play in the same dressing room for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Harbhajan said that Symonds was a different person in the Mumbai Indians dressing room.  (AP)

Symonds had accused Harbhajan of calling him by a racial slur which the former India spinner denied. Both players have since spoken about having patched up since the incident and expressed mutual respect for each other.

“I remembered an incident when we were in Chandigarh. After playing a match that we won, we went to my friend’s place. There, we hugged for the first time and apologized to each other. We felt that the issue could have been sorted out in a more amicable manner. Both of us felt sorry. A lot of my friends from Mumbai Indians clicked pictures of that moment," said Harbhajan on Sportskeeda.

Harbhajan was among the stars for the Mumbai Indians when Symonds was bought by the franchise in 2011.

“When Mumbai picked him, the first thought that came to my mind was - ‘why did they pick him? How will we (me and Symonds) get along together?’ When he entered the MI dressing room, Andrew was a different man altogether. I thought he would some angry person and I feel he would have thought the same about me.

“In fact, we used to eat together and sit together at night. The controversy between me and Symonds was blown out of proportion by the media. When we met, we never felt that there was any such animosity between us.”

Harbhajan also said that his view on Ricky Ponting, who was captain of the Australian team in the 2007/08 series, also changed when he played with the latter at the Mumbai Indians in the 2013 season. While Ponting was selected to lead the team, he later relinquished captaincy to current skipper Rohit Sharma and MI went on to win the first of their five IPL titles.

“Everyone knows what used to happen when we were opponents on the cricket field. But things changed when he started playing together. We sat together, we spoke about things that had happened earlier. Ponting sat with me and discussed ways to take the team forward because I was also a senior member of the squad. We put behind our past and focused completely on taking Mumbai forward in the IPL," said Harbhajan about the Australian batting great, who is currently head coach of the Delhi Capitals.