Harbhajan Singh says he can’t take insults lying down

Melbourne: Never to shy away from a challenge, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh picked up the gauntlet thrown by Andrew Symonds and vowed to be aggressive when India tour Down Under early next year.

Symonds has been critical of the Indian cricketers and the allrounder recently issued a veiled threat that Harbhajan and his teammates would feel the heat when they tour Australia next year.

Far from being cowed down, the off-spinner promised to hit back at the Australian’s backyard.

“If someone is saying something, you have to answer back. You just can’t keep taking the things they have been saying. You are there to play cricket, not to get abused,” a fired up Harbhajan was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

He insisted that the Australians are superior but surely not unbeatables.

“Obviously, it has been a very tough series for all of us. Everybody knows Australia are a good side… They are good with the bat and on the field. However, they are beatable if other teams play to their potential,” he said.

Harbhajan was seen waving his bat at Symonds and Michael Clarke in Kochi and the off-spinner said it was a natural reaction to what he had been subjected to.

“They were levelling personal insults at me and I am not the type to take it lying down. I go there to enjoy my cricket. Just because somebody says something doesn’t mean I have to listen,” he said.

He is convinced that this is the right way to play against the Ricky Ponting-led side.

“You just have to go out and fight and play hard with them,” he said.

Symonds earlier added fuel to his simmering duel with Indians by describing the ongoing tour as “hostile” and warning the hosts of a backlash when they tour Down Under this year.

Man of the Series Symonds, who was engaged in a war of words with the hosts since the seven-match series began, said he knew India was “never an easy place to tour, but I am surprised how hostile it has been.”

The allrounder, on his fifth tour of India, said the World Twenty20 champions still had a lot to prove and were set for a searing summer in Australia.