Is it the end of the road for Harbhajan Singh?

Harbhajan Singh made his comeback to the Indian team in the one-off Test against Bangladesh recently

Harbhajan Singh – one of India’s biggest ever match winners, leading wicket taker in the world amongst the bowlers playing Tests currently, the catalyst in India’s victory on numerous occasions – A number of superlatives have been used to describe him over the years. Once a permanent fixture in the side in every format of the game, Harbhajan is now struggling to find a place.

It feels sad to even think to about it being a Bhajji fan. Once he was the ‘go to bowler’ for every captain that he played under and he used to deliver by running through the opposition’s batting. Add to that his aggression which made him a different player altogether. Had he not lost his form, he would definitely be inching towards the top 5 wicket takers ever, but that is not the case anymore.

After the 2011 World Cup, he started to lose confidence and became a run saver more than a wicket taker. The arrival of Ravichandran Ashwin gave him a fierce competition and it was his growing stature in cricket that forced the selectors to exclude Harbhajan from the squad, even though he was not doing too badly.

The ‘turbanator’ has always been an energetic individual on and off the field. He has shown that he has a tremendous love for his country. Remember after India won the Perth test, how he ran onto the field with the Indian flag in his hands. He has undoubtedly shown true patriotism through his style of playing cricket.

He burst onto the scene with a very child-like look and impressed one and all with a dancing like run up. He came into the limelight when he thrashed the mighty Australians in 2001 by taking 32 wickets in 3 Test matches which included the historical victory at Eden Gardens, where the Indian team won the match after the follow on. He also bagged a hat-trick in that match.

Harbhajan came into the limelight in 2001 picking up 32 wickets in 3 Test matches against Australia

There onwards, he was the premier bowler for Sourav Ganguly, who always turned to him at the crucial moments in the game and Harbhajan, more often than not, delivered. He was one of those bowlers who mastered the Doosra and was a key member in the 2007 World T20 and 2011 ODI World Cup winning squads.

In the last 2-3 years, he has not been the bowler that he once used to be. He persisted a lot, but due to continuous failures, he was dropped from the side. Since then, he has been working very hard to make a way back. His chances of returning looked very bleak, but he then gave wonderful returns in the IPL for the Mumbai Indians in the 2015 season and backed by some good performances in the domestic circuit, Harbhajan was selected back in the side.

His second innings in the Indian team started in the one-off Test against Bangladesh at Fatullah where he claimed 3 wickets. But in the same match his counterpart Ashwin picked a five-for. In the first Test at Galle, he went wicketless in the first innings whereas Ashwin got 6. The second innings, Harbhajan got 1 wicket while Ashwin got 4.

The fact here is that because both of them are off spinners, Bhajji will always be compared to Ashwin. And because the latter is bowling as good as he has ever bowled, Harbhajan was dropped again for the rest of the series. Now with Ashwin becoming the Player of the Series, it is very unlikely that the two off spinners will play together in the same team with Amit Mishra also doing a decent job.

There is absolutely no doubt about his commitment, but sadly, the returns are not good enough to give him a long run in the team. He needed to perform stupendously to be considered for the future tournaments. It won’t be a surprise if he is not included in the squad for the South Africa series and if he is, then it will definitely be his last chance.