Chennai, July 20 -- Former Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin collectively spoke on the alleged rift between them, with the recently retired Ashwin saying that even if the Indian spin great was indeed "jealous" of his success at one point, it was "justified and human."

As Harbhajan stepped away from Tests in 2015 after a 103-match-long career with 417 wickets, Ashwin took his place as the first-choice spinner. Harbhajan's decline coincided with Ashwin's rise in international cricket as a genuine spin bowling all-rounder, and for long, reports about a rift between these two bowling greats ran rampant on social media, with some of Harbhajan's comments on Ashwin often taken as jabs towards his successor.

Speaking in ...