Daughter is priority, cricket can wait

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh might’ve been missing on the field for a year now, but only so that he doesn’t miss out on seven-month-old daughter Hinaya Heer Plaha’s growing up years.

“This had to happen. She will always be [my] priority now,” says Bhajji. He and wife, actor Geeta Basra, welcomed the baby in July last year. “My daughter is growing up and I want to live every moment of it. I haven’t played cricket in the last 8-9 months, but I can still get back to it. I can’t not be there for my daughter when she is growing up. That won’t come back,” adds the 36-year-old.

The cricketer insists that this is how he wanted things to be. “I’ve been playing cricket for almost 18-19 years now. This (marriage and fatherhood) is happening to me for the first time. Now, it’s all about family. Whatever I’ve achieved so far in life and in the future is for them. My family is my world,” he says.

Harbhajan was last part of the Indian cricket team in March 2016. He says the game might have taken a backseat, but his skill has not. Leading Punjab in the ongoing Vijay Hazare trophy, and prepared for his upcoming IPL stint, Bhajji is confident of good times, professionally as well. “I know I can still give the Indian team a lot. I’m trying my best that I give the best performances. That’s why I’m still competing, and hoping to make a return in the [Indian] team one day,” he adds.

PHOTO:INSTAGRAM/ GEETABASRA