Ganguly and Harbhajan lash out at "chicken-hearted" Hayden

New Delhi/Kolkata, Feb 5 (PTI) Former captain Sourav
Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh on Saturday hit out at Matthew
Hayden for claiming that they had chickened out of 2004 Nagpur
Test because of the green wicket and said the former
Australian opener has written "a lot of crap" to sell his
book.
While a livid Harbhajan retaliated by calling Hayden the
"biggest chicken hearted cricketer" he has ever seen, Ganguly
reminded the Australian of his century on a pacy track in
Brisabane and called upon him to behave like an international
cricketer.
"I don't know what these Australian cricketers are up to?
Even Ricky Ponting wrote a lot of crap to sell his book and
now this guy Hayden is doing so," Harbhajan fumed while giving
his reaction to PTI.
The former Australian opener in his autobiography
"Standing My Ground" had said that Ganguly and Harbhajan
chickened out after having a look at the grassy Nagpur strip
during Australia's tour of 2004. He had even expressed his
surprise in the manner in which Harbhajan had "food poisoning"
on the eve of that Test which Australia won convincingly.
"Who is Mathew Hayden to judge Harbhajan Singh's calibre.
I don't know what he is smoking these days. Probably he was in
some kind of trip when he wrote all that rubbish. Should I
now give Hayden some money to keep quiet?"
If that wasn't enough, Harbhajan said that he is still
willing to bowl if Hayden has the courage to face him.
"This is an open challenge. Whenever and wherever Hayden
wants me to bowl at him, I am ready. Does he have the courage
to face me. Because, whenever I have seen him bat against me,
he always had a petrified look. Just check the record books in
case you want to know how many times I have got him out," he
said. More PTI KHS
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SPORT-LD HARBHAJAN 2 LAST
Referring to Hayden's term of "greentrackitis", Harbhajan
said, "I have scored half century even in Australian soil. May
be Hayden has this habit of conviniently forgetting the
achievements of Indian cricketers. At the end of the day, he
doesn't have the qualification to judge the calibre of Indian
cricketers."
Ganguly, on his part, said "I request him (Hayden) to
behave like an international player."
Drawing comparison of the Nagpur wicket with that of
Gabba in Brisbane, Hayden had written that Ganguly's
late withdrawal was due "greentrackitis, where you develop a
severe intolerance to green wickets likely to give plenty of
headaches as a batsman".
Ganguly reminded Hayden that he had scored a hundred at
Gabba besides playing important roles in India's wins later.
"He remembered Brisbane in Nagpur. Just want to remind
him of my hundred in Brisbane in the first Test. Also since
2003, we have beaten them (Australia) everytime in Brisbane.
Me and Bhajji have been important part of Indian team on all
those wins," he said.
Ganguly, who was the Indian captain, pulled out of the
Nagpur Test, citing a leg-muscle injury. PTI KHS
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