Harbhajan Singh : A tale of controversies and comeback

OF COMEBACKS AND CONTROVERSIES

“There is only one person who had the cheek to do it, it would be Harbhajan Singh” were the words of cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle when Bhajji (as he is fondly called) lifted Nita Ambani, the owner of Mumbai Indians team after winning the semifinals of the DLF IPL in 2010.

Controversies & Bhajji

Well, such has been the career of Bhajji that he has been in the news more often than not for non-cricketing reasons. Be it this episode, the slap-gate with S Sreesanth or the monkey-gate scandal with Andrew Symonds; controversy has never left Bhajji alone. Fans of the 90s will recall that a 17 years old Bhajji was fined and given a suspended ban for one ODI in his very first international series - the Coca-Cola Cup in 1998 due to his altercation with former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

The Comeback

Seventeen years on, the man is once again back in Team India colours. In this, not so short period of time, he has gone on to become the 9th highest wicket-taker in Test match cricket which is not a mean achievement by any stretch of the imagination. He is also just 18 wickets short of overtaking the great Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 wickets; a feat which will make him the second highest wicket taker for India after Anil Kumble and sixth highest in the world.

Is the comeback due to a dearth of spin talent in India?

Now there are two ways of looking at this; one is to give the man due credits for making a comeback at the age of 35 and the other way is to blame it on the dearth of spin talent in India. I would prefer to look at it from the first angle and I have reasons for the same.

For me, to just put the blame on the dearth of spinners in India for Bhajji’s comeback is like telling the school kid that who scored 100/100 that he did so only because the boy next door was not able to score it. Agreed that we have not produced any dependable spinner since probably R Ashwin but then at the same time Bhajji has been toiling it hard in domestic and IPL matches.

With his performances in these tournaments, he has forced the selectors to look back at him. It is interesting to note that recently (against Bangladesh) when he overtook Wasim Akram to become the 9th highest wicket taker in test matches, he had played 2 tests fewer than the Pakistani legend. Also, he is the 8th quickest in terms of test matches played to reach 400 wickets ahead of all-time greats like Curtly Ambrose, Shaun Pollock, Courtney Walsh and Kapil Dev. So, in a way his records speak volumes of his performances and the only thing in question was his form which had deserted him.

A phrase which the selectors often come up with to justify the axe of a senior player is “We are looking at the future”. I have failed to understand this justification at most of the times. My not so good memory tells me that the likes of Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Robin Singh etc. among others were shown the door with this very justification. I mean, why drop a player when he is good enough to play for a couple more years. So, I am really thankful to the selectors for not having done the same to Bhajji.

Opportunities aplenty

Traditionally, spinners have had a longer shelf life. Three great spinners in recent times - Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne & Anil Kumble went on to play test cricket into their late 30s. Going by this yardstick, Bhajji still has two to three years of competitive cricket left in him.

With a packed up cricket season in the sub-continent for the Indian team, the opportunity is perfect for Bhajji to cement his place once again in the Indian team.