'They said you have testicles on your head, it was an insult towards my religion' - Harbhajan Singh recalls infamous 'Monkeygate' scandal

Over the years, there have serval arguments and fights between cricketers on the field. However, there aren't too many incidents as popular as the 'Monkeygate' scandal, which happened between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds. So much so that the incident is remembered by several people even today.

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The incident occurred during the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in 2008 in Sydney, and it resulted in the series almost being called off. Later on, it was revealed that Harbhajan, who was charged with racial abuse, had gone on to say something in Hindi, which was misunderstood by the Aussies as "monkey".

The "Turbanator" recently threw light on this incident while speaking on 'Backstage with Boria' and spoke about how disturbed he was during that time. He also stated that there were six to seven witnesses to back the claim that he hadn't said anything that was racist in nature. Further on, he said that the entire matter was blown out of proportion.

Obviously I was disturbed: Harbhajan Singh

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“Obviously I was disturbed, I couldn’t understand why it was happening. Why was there so much of... for something that hadn’t happened. They had six or seven witnesses for something that I had not spoken. No one had heard it and yet it was blown out of proportion," said Harbhajan Singh.

Although Singh was originally banned for three Tests, his punishment was later on reduced to a 50 % match-fee fine. Thus, the 41-year-old then went on to narrate his side of the story.

“The things that were said to me (while being) on the ground, ‘you have testicles on your head’, to hear such an insult towards my religion was the most difficult thing for me. I didn’t open my mouth then because if I did so, it would have resulted in more controversies. Only I know how I spent time alone in my room during that difficult period. I didn’t try to talk much with the players or management. They were anyways backing me throughout the incident," he said.