Harbhajan Singh
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A profile
The Times of India, July 9, 2011
K Shriniwas Rao | TNN
To boast 400 wickets in Test matches while you can look ahead to another five years of international cricket is no mean feat. No matter how much the critics harp on Harbhajan Singh being over the hill and riding on his luck these days, to walk out there and fill your bag with as many Test scalps as he’s done requires more than just mere effort.
Harbhajan has done that. He is the fourth highest wicket-taker in Tests among spinners and 11th overall, right behind the likes of Kapil (Dev), (Richard) Hadlee, (Shaun) Pollock, (Wasim) Akram and (Curtly) Ambrose. That’s quite a list to join.
The off-spinner, who has faced more ups and downs in his career perhaps than any other bowler in recent years, deserves an ovation. For once, let us keep aside the small talk that revolves more often than not around his bowling average.
He speaks about his late father’s dream of wanting his son to play for India, his family supporting him at a time when he was no more interested in pursuing cricket, former and present teammates backing him to the hilt, the glory days of the 2001 Test series against Australia.
He even uttered the word ‘average’ when he spoke — 31.80 in 96 Test matches. “If you look at the different kinds of formats that a cricketer has to bowl in — 50-over and Twenty20 — the overall average is bound to change. Any bowler, with the kind of cricket and the amount of it that is played today, will agree that averages are not easy to maintain,” he says.
Perhaps he realises that in the list of eleven bowlers, who form the 400-club, he’s the only one to average beyond 30. The closest to him are former India teammates Kapil Dev (29.64) and Anil Kumble (29.65). None of the rest let the figure fall beyond 25.
He doesn’t really need to give that a thought but just bask in the glory of reaching there. But you cannot ignore the fact that it rankles him.
A summing up
A
Dwaipayan Datta, Dec 25, 2021: The Times of India
From: Dwaipayan Datta, Dec 25, 2021: The Times of India
CHENNAI: Harbhajan Singh was one of the fiercest competitors Indian cricket has seen in the last 20 years. It was this combative, losing-is-not-an-option approach that characterized the spinner and made him a favourite of Sourav Ganguly when he was coming up through the ranks in the early 2000s.
It’s common knowledge that if it was left to the selectors, Harbhajan wouldn’t have played the 2001 series against Australia. Bhajji’s statemate Sarandeep Singh was the selectors’ choice but it was Ganguly’s gutt-feeling and the offspinner’s ability to bowl the doosra that got him the nod.
“I had problems at National Cricket Academy and I was suspended for a bit. Then there were issues with my action early on in my career which were dealt with, but most importantly, I had just lost my father ahead of that series. There was something that Dada saw in me before picking me ahead of a few others who were senior to me,” Harbhajan had told TOI sometime back, reminiscing about that iconic series.
While his Eden Gardens hat-trick and 34 wickets for the series are part of cricket folklore, one mustn’t forget that under immense pressure, Bhajji got the winning runs against Glen McGrath at Chepauk that took India home.
“It was probably god’s will that I had to go out there and get those last four runs. When I look at the Youtube videos now, I remember that I was expecting a bouncer from McGrath when we needed two. But he tried yorking me and I just put bat to ball. He had removed the point before bowling that delivery and the ball went just there as I ran for life,” Bhajji said.
Those were the moments that shaped Harbhajan’s career and made him an integral part of the Indian cricket team for about 10 years. Even if you take the routine home wins out of the equation, Harbhajan played crucial roles in some of the most important away wins of the decade --- be it Leeds in 2002, Jamaica 2006 or Durban 2010.
Bhajji, though, was dropped post the 2007 ODI World Cup disaster for the England series. It wasn’t an easy phase for the spinner as he saw India, playing with Ramesh Powar as the No. 1 offie, winning a Test series in England as he tried to work his way back going through the grind of County cricket. And once he was back, Harbhajan never looked back for the next four years.
His teammates knew what Bhajji meant for the team, and that’s why when he was put into a tricky corner -- the Monkeygate of 2007 at SCG -- the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble came out all guns blazing to defend him.
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Arani Basu, Dec 25, 2021: The Times of India
From: Arani Basu, Dec 25, 2021: The Times of India
From: Arani Basu, Dec 25, 2021: The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Harbhajan Singh is 41 years old and he doesn’t mind conceding that he has waited too long to announce his retirement. On Friday, when he did finally announce his retirement from all forms of the game, he said: “I felt I was a retired cricketer for some years but I delayed the announcement because I had IPL commitments with Kolkata Knight Riders. Like every player, I also dreamt of retiring from the field in the India jersey but that wasn’t meant to be.”
Harbhajan has been one of the fiercest cricketers and biggest match-winners for India in the last two decades. He is a character any team would love to have in the dressing room. Moments after announcing his retirement, he spoke to TOI and looked back at his career.
Excerpts…
You have been part of the generation which transformed the way cricket is played in India. How do you look back?
To have made it this far from the place that I have come from, there’s not much to regret. I am grateful to this beautiful game, my guru ji and family. Indian cricket has evolved dramatically and is in a different league now. I am very happy that I could contribute to how cricket in India is played. I am thankful to BCCI and the Punjab Cricket Association. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah were kind enough to call me up today. I wouldn’t have been able to become an India cricketer if it wasn’t for MP Pandove.
I am so grateful that I got to play with legends like Anil Kumble, Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. Besides being great cricketers, these were brilliant human beings. These seniors had a big impact on all the youngsters in the team. We were different kinds of players. I was aggressive but Rahul wasn’t. But we learnt discipline from Dravid. I am lucky to have just met such people.
You said the hat-trick against Australia at Eden Gardens is the most memorable moment of your career. But the Monkeygate incident follows you wherever you go…
Rai ka pahaad bana liya. (They made a mountain out of a molehill). It wasn’t as big an issue as it was made out to be. It was blown out of proportion so much that it is difficult to resolve it even today. People still talk about it and derive fun out of it. Things could have been settled then and there on the field. Maybe it was destined to be in my life.
If I look back, it could have been handled in a better way but the Australian team failed to do that. They were adamant they had to file a complaint. It was all unnecessary. There are a number of things that happen in cricket. That is not the first or the last such incident when foul language was used.
Indian spinners have always been under pressure to perform overseas…
The spell of 4/10 in Durban in 2010 is very special. I never wanted to leave my team thinking that I am playing just a supporting role. When there’s an opportunity to attack and create pressure then you must do that. I am happy that I could perform not just in India but also in special wins overseas.
The performances in London, Durban, Capetown, Barbados and Hamilton give me great satisfaction. My job was to take wickets and how I can evolve my game to do well in those conditions is a challenge. Every time I went on tours, I was a better bowler.
How difficult was it to motivate yourself when you were dropped after the high of 2011 World Cup win?
I don’t want to get into the kind of pitches I have bowled on. It’s evident who has achieved what on what kind of pitches. When I came back from England tour because of an injury in 2011, I never got an opportunity to play Test cricket despite having got 400 Test wickets. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. Whatever chances I got after that was like a farce. Life is a circle. Whatever you do comes around. Life is much bigger than cricket.
Then you were called back before the 2016 T20 World Cup and didn’t get a game…
First, I wasn’t getting picked despite my performances in IPL. Then suddenly I get selected and don’t get a game on two tours and become a tourist. For someone who has played 100 Tests, it was not the proper way to be treated. If I had seen someone with 100 Tests being treated like this, I would have done things so that the player felt happy and wanted in the team.
I understand that it was difficult to fit me in the XI but then I shouldn’t have been picked. At times, it was frustrating to realise that once I ruled the scene and suddenly I was struggling to get a game.
You played ahead of a legend like Kumble on many occasions…
Anil bhai has been instrumental in shaping my career. Yes, there were a lot of times when I was playing ahead of him but that wasn’t my decision. I wouldn’t have got as many wickets if I hadn’t played alongside Anil bhai. Best quality of Anil Kumble is that he never gave up even as it was clear we were losing a match comfortably. He taught me to keep fighting till the last ball is bowled and in life. People say miracles happen in cricket but it’s not true. People with Anil bhai’s thinking make miracles.
Future plans…
I would like to stick around this game and do something to give back. I am more than happy to help BCCI and franchises. I am writing a book which will be out in a few months. I would like to contribute to society because whatever I am, it is because of the people.
Better captain: Dhoni or Ganguly?
Sourav Ganguly found me when I was a nobody. By the time Dhoni became captain, I was an established player. Ganguly backed me when I was still a work in progress. He trusted my skills but there wasn’t any certainty if I would perform. But in the case of Dhoni, he knew I had it in me to win matches for him.
Career highlights
1 Harbhajan Singh is the first Indian bowler to have accomplished a hat-trick in Tests, achieving the feat against Australia by dismissing Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne in the 2000-01 Kolkata Test.
2. He is also the only Indian bowler to bag four consecutive five-wicket hauls in an innings — 7/123 & 6/73 at Kolkata; 7/133 & 8/84 at Chennai against Australia in 2000-01
3. He is the only Indian bowler to bag 15 wickets in a Test match against Australia —15 for 217 at Chennai in 2000-01.
4. Number of times in his career, the offie has taken 60 wickets or more in a calendar year — 63 (ave.23.22) in 13 Tests in 2002; 63 (ave.31.53) in 13 Tests in 2008 and 60 (ave.25.95) in 12 Tests in 2001.
5. Number of times Harbhajan has dismissed Ricky Ponting in 14 matches — the most times he has dismissed a batsman Most wickets captured by an Indian bowler in a Test series against Australia. Harbhajan averaged 17.03 in the three-Test series against the Aussies in 2000-01.
Learnt slider from Sachin
K Shriniwas Rao | TNN
To make Ricky Ponting a bunny is by itself a huge achievement in any form of cricket and Harbhajan Singh can happily claim he managed that. But the off-spinner regards the former Australia captain as the best he ever bowled to.
In 2001, just before the series against Australia, Harbhajan said he’d be looking to bowl well against Ponting because he shuffles his feet well and is a great batsman. Even today, he maintains the same. Among other scalps that keep lingering in his mind, Harbhajan remembers his first Test wicket when he clean bowled Greg Blewett.
“I got Michael Hussey in Bangalore, it was a doosra and he left it from outside off and it came a long way in. Even I was surprised with the delivery. I have only seen Muttiah Muralitharan bowl that kind of delivery,” he says.
There has been a collection of great batsmen who he has dismissed — Hayden, Lara, Waugh — and the bowler holds them all close to his heart. Harbhajan thanks Sachin Tendulkar for helping him with his bowling when it came to targetting batsmen who tackled spin exceptionally well. “Whenever I bowl to Sachin at the nets, I always ask him what is happening and what I should be looking to do on wickets like these, and wherever we are touring, whether it is in Australia or New Zealand, I take his advice.
“He showed me how to use the slider. It can be very useful in Oneday and Test cricket and I have got a couple of wickets with that ball. You hold that ball like an off-spinner but you release the ball with one finger, so it just goes like an outswinger. But it can happen only with the new ball,” he says.
BHAJJI’S HIGH-FIVES
The 2001 series against Australia gave a major push to Bhajji’s floundering career. The offie picked up 7/123 in the first-innings of the second Test in Kolkata, including a hat-trick. He sealed the win with 6/73 in the second-innings
Bhajji followed his Kolkata Test heroics with 15 wickets in the third Test in Chennai to end the series with 32 wickets
The Punjab tweaker’s 6/63 in the second-innings at Hamilton was instrumental in setting up India’s 10-wicket win over New Zealand in 2009 The Turbanator’s only 10-wicket haul away from home came against Sri Lanka, at Galle, in 2008. Bhajji scalped 6/102 and 4/51 as India notched up a 170-run win
Harbhajan, the batsman, scored his maiden Test ton against New Zealand, at Ahmedabad. The 115-run knock remains his top score in Tests.
