IPL 2021: Was concerned about family last year, my wife motivated me to play this time - Harbhajan Singh

IPL 2021: Harbhajan Singh opened up on his decision to opt out of the previous edition of the T20 league, saying that he was concerned about his family due to the coronavirus pandemic. He added that his wife motivated him to play in the upcoming 13th edition of the tournament.

Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) new-recruit Harbhajan Singh has revealed that his family and wife Geeta Basra motivated him to play in the IPL 2021.The off-spinner also talked about his decision to opt out of the IPL 2020 which was held in UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 40-year-old, who was part of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) setup then, said that he was concerned about his family and the hard quarantine on return to India."Last year, when IPL happened, COVID-19 in India was at its peak. I was concerned about my family and also about hard quarantine in India after coming back."But this year, it's happening in India and also we have now got used to the new normal."Vaccines have come. Also it's my family which pushed. My wife (Geeta) told me that I should go and play," Harbhajan Singh told PTI.After CSK released Harbhajan, he was bought by 2-time champions KKR at his base price of Rs 2 crore in the February 18 IPL 2021 auction.Harbhajan has won IPL titles with Mumbai Indians (MI) and CSK, and the star cricketer will look to do the same in the purple and gold jersey of Eoin Morgan-led KKR. “See you in 7 Days”Our latest member of the #QuarantinedKnights group! @harbhajan_singh #KKR #HaiTaiyaar #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/byRhETm8cq Harbhajan Singh, who has scalped 150 wickets in his 160 IPL matches till date, is currently serving the mandatory 7-day quarantine before joining the team bubble for the practice sessions. The official Twitter handle of KKR had posted a video of him arriving at the team hotel. "Milte hai 7 din baad (See you in 7 days)," he had said in the video before entering the hotel quarantine.