'Don't Know What Najam Sethi is Smoking ': Harbhajan Slams Former PCB Chief for 'India Afraid to Play Pakistan' Remark

After making a jab at BCCI secretary Jay Shah, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has taken a swipe at former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) president Najam Sethi for raising the question of whether India is scared to play and lose to archrival Pakistan.

The Asia Cup 2023 final games will take place in Colombo, and the weather for those games doesn't seem good with rain predicted to cause havoc.

Originally, Pakistan was supposed to host the entire Asia Cup, but the BCCI declined to go to its neighbour because the Indian government had denied them permission to do so.

Thus, following discussions with other board members, Shah—who also serves as the president of the ACC—agreed on a hybrid approach in which the majority of the matches will be played in Sri Lanka.

"BCCI/ACC informed PCB today that they had decided to shift next India-Pak match from Colombo to Hambantota because of rain forecasts," said Sethi on X (previously Twitter) on Wednesday. They announced Colombo as the location after having second thoughts in less than an hour. What is happening? Is India scared to play Pakistan and come up short? The rain forecast is impressive.

"I have no idea what Najam Sethi smokes these days. Harbhajan Singh remarked on Sports Today, "I don't know how he's saying that India doesn't want to play Pakistan or that they were the favourites."

The renowned cricket player refuted Sethi's unfounded claim, asserting that Team India never backs down from a match.

Would someone please provide him with the complete record of India's victories over them in all of their meetings? Given his current standing in Pakistan cricket, he views this as an unjustified kind of thing. He claims that because India is afraid, it does not want to play Pakistan.

India isn't afraid to play with people. Where this is coming from is unknown. They have to meet with the Asian Cricket Council to choose the tournament's location," he continued.

He went on to dare Sethi, saying that India would defeat Pakistan anywhere he chose.

Whether or not the weather forecast proved to be accurate. We'll defeat you, boss, so come play with us wherever you want," he declared.