India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh find themselves embroiled in an unexpected controversy. Dhoni and Harbhajan missed the Padma awards ceremony in Delhi on Tuesday despite being in the country.
Harbhajan explained why he couldn't attend the ceremony in the Capital. He said he had pressing family commitments in his home town Jalandhar.
"I wanted to attend the award ceremony," Harbhajan said here on Wednesday. "I had some family commitments that's why I couldn't attend the awards. I have not done any mistake. If anybody thinks that I have committed a mistake, then I will come two days in advance."
Rubbishing reports that he was in the Capital for an ad shoot, Harbhajan said if this "charge" is proved he would quit cricket.
"The allegation that I was in New Delhi or was shooting for an advertisement instead of attending the Padma award ceremony is completely false," Harbhajan said. "If anyone says that I was in Delhi and proves it, I will stop playing cricket."
However, there was no word from Dhoni over him giving the awards a miss. Reports claim Dhoni missed the function because he had commercial commitments to meet.
Dhoni left for South Africa on Tuesday night to play in the IPL, but despite being in Mumbai all day failed to turn up for the ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
India's Minister of Home Affairs P Chidambaram, however, played down the duo's absence, saying there are two or three absentees from the awards often.
"Both are in South Africa," he said. "They had told us they are playing matches there and won't be available. That happens every year, one or two people don't turn because they have other things to do."
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