Keep the ball rolling, Pele tells Harbhajan

"It was a great meeting with the legend. He is a simple man," raved Harbhajan, who is a big football fan.

Keep the ball rolling. A simple advice from ‘King’ Pele to Harbhajan Singh. The India off-spinner was in Brazil and got to spend time with the football icon. “A lifetime experience,” Harbhajan told The Hindu .

“It was a great meeting with the legend. He is a simple man,” raved Harbhajan, who is a big football fan and once fancied himself to follow in the footsteps of some great names from Punjab.

“Football is a simple game, and this big icon is also so simple,” said Harbhajan, who has an aggregate of 413 wickets from 101 Tests. Harbhajan was like any other fan in front of Pele, who scored more than 600 goals in his career.

The most celebrated footballer of all times, also knew that Harbhajan pursued a game which was hugely popular in India, “He somehow knew what cricket is and it's a great sports in India. He asked me if I had ever played football and I said yes we do play football during our warm ups. It was a pleasure meeting him. I enjoyed it,” said Harbhajan.

When Harbhajan asked him what it was to be the most sought after sportsman in the world, Pele’s humble response was, “I played sports to become the best and worked hard to get there. Also it is easier becoming star but to sustain it is a big challenge. That challenge gets you going.”

Advice

Harbhajan, who spent more than an hour with Pele, pleaded to know the best way to fightback. “Keep the ball rolling,” said the master.