WATCH: Harbhajan Singh's 'MS Dhoni has real fans' remark triggers fan war on social media, video goes viral

Published - 18 May 2025, 15:37 IST | Updated - 18 May 2025, 15:43 IST

Former legendary Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh recently came into the limelight on social media after he made rather bold remarks regarding the fan following of elite cricket stars like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. During a discussion among the cricket experts, Singh seemingly took a shot at some iconic Indian cricketers by undermining their overall fan following and popularity.

The incident took place ahead of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) match of the IPL 2025 (Indian Premier League) season. There was a discussion about Dhoni's future in the coveted league. Harbhajan strongly supported the talismanic former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain to continue his run in the league.

However, while replying to a question about the loyal fan base, his remarks seemingly irked Virat Kohli's fans, as they felt the former spin king was taking a dig at the Delhi-based cricketer. Notably, a few days back, Kohli bid adieu to Test cricket and was all set to represent RCB in the ongoing IPL 2025. But rain played spoilsport on Saturday (May 17), and the match was abandoned. As a result, this triggered a fan war between MS Dhoni's fans and Kohli's fans.

“He can play as long as he can. Had it been my team, I would have made a different decision. Fans will want him to continue playing. I feel he has a real fan base; the rest are all on social media, which are even paid fans. Leave them out because if we start discussing that, the discussion will go in a different direction,” Harbhajan said during the Star Sports panel discussion.

Quite interestingly, Aakash Chopra was another Indian cricketer on the panel. He was carefully listening to what Bhajji, aka 'The Turbanator,' was saying. He seemed quite surprised by the harsh remark and responded by saying that it sounded too good to be true.

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Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh further added that fans want to see MS Dhoni play for a long time. Notably, some reports claimed that Dhoni is most likely to continue his illustrious IPL career for another season. However, he did add that had he been the skipper of CSK, he might have taken a different decision altogether.