Harbhajan Singh advises Indian batsmen to improve strike rotation

Harbhajan believes that the Indian batsmen should rotate the strike better

Harbhajan Singh is confident that India can stage a successful comeback against South Africa in the remaining two ODIs against South Africa, ESPNCricinfo reports. The veteran off-spinner believes the Indian batsmen can outscore the Proteas easily but advised them to concentrate on rotating the strike better.

Chasing a below par target of 271 set by the visitors at Rajkot on Sunday, India were bogged down by the economical bowling of the Proteas which forced the run rate to creep up leaving too much to do for the lower order batsmen. Harbhajan, however, is not doubting the strengths of the Indian batsmen and is confident that they can show their true prowess sooner rather than later.

“Obviously, as I said, we have got so much quality in our team that we can score runs on any sort of track. They are all performers, they have won games for India. It's just a matter of time. It could be tomorrow," he said.

Harbhajan believes that the previous rules in ODI cricket that allowed just four fielders to be stationed outside the 30-yard circle in the non-powerplay overs had developed a tendency among the batsmen to aim for bigger shots, but advised India’s batsmen to adjust their game in accordance with the new rules that allow five fielders to be used.

"Obviously when we play with certain rules for three-four years, we get used to them and you look to hit a lot of boundaries. Instead of looking to hit boundaries, we need to look to rotate strike in between those overs.

"The odd boundary will come. No bowler is so perfect that they can keep on bowling six balls at one length and at one line. But if we are looking to just hit boundaries, then we are actually missing out on a lot of singles, and that's what has been discussed. We will look to take a lot of singles, rotate strike from the first over to the last over. So we just need to be a little smarter,” Harbhajan said.

The 35-year-old expects the spinners including himself to bowl an attacking line at the South African batsmen and is hopeful that the move will reap rewards.

"We are looking to put pressure on them and not give easy singles. If they are looking to go over the top, that is fine by us," he explained. "We want to take wickets as a spinning unit and whoever is bowling at any point of time, we want to attack. We want to have a lot of catching fielders in place. In that process, you will go for boundaries here and there. But at the same time, if you pick up a wicket, you control the game. That is our agenda."

In the wake of criticism levied at the likes of skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan believed it was the collective responsibility of all the players to step up and improve their performances.

"It's each and everyone's responsibility to look into their game and come up with a plan for what needs to be done and what they are doing in the middle and what they can do better to make the team win," Harbhajan said. "I just want to say one thing that the team will be going all out to win the game tomorrow and from there onwards, hopefully, we will put up another good performance. Things can be different in one week's time."