Why Harbhajan does not deserve his place in the side

India is hallmarked as a land of spinners. Its tradition of producing spinners of outstanding calibre has been the focal point of the classification of pitches in this part of the world. We have a host of spinners who were legendary and who evoked the fear of batsmen even without aiming at their rib-cage. The expert analysis has given much credence to the above mentioned fact; the percentage of wickets that have been picked by the spinners is comparatively more than the pacers. It is no wonder our current skipper favours tracks that have turn and bounce.

Whenever the argument on the best spinner that India has ever produced comes up, there is a modern-day great whose name springs up, not to anyone’s surprise though. Anil Kumble has truly been one of the greatest spinners, not just in India but has the credentials to stake a claim at the top level. He could easily stroll up to the throne of ‘number-one-spinner-from-India’. The second spot though, evokes much debate owing to the spin-quartet of the 60s and 70s which included pretty heavy names like Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, B. Chandrasekhar and L. Venkatraghavan to mention a few. There were the others following them, but the competition is well and truly among these four and another man, Harbhajan Singh.

The name Harbhajan Singh has sufficient respect in the cricketing circles. His climb to the top of the ladder has been simply outstanding. Being overshadowed for the major part of his career by Kumble, Harbhajan was silently plying his trade, bowling in tandem with him and picking wickets at crucial junctures. The duo has incredible records as a pair, and Indian cricket owes a lot of their victories to these gentlemen, though the batsmen have run away with the laurels in most of the occasions.

It was the year 2001. Kumble was injured and India had the choice of picking from two spinners – Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik. Kartik had a very good domestic season and was expected to make the cut for the Border-Gavaskar trophy. But it was a fortunate turn of events as the skipper Sourav Ganguly believed in Harbhajan and provided him with the big break.

Harbhajan did not disappoint. He bowled a fine spell in the series and ended up with 32 wickets. India won the series and he sealed his berth in the Indian side. This performance earned him the unconditional support of his team-mates as his journey to being India’s frontline spinner commenced. He took giant strides as a spinner and provided Kumble with enough backing.

But things were not hunky-dory after the retirement of his partner. People began to realise that the pressure applied by Kumble at one end of the wicket was the reason behind Harbhajan’s dazzling performances, or so they thought. The talismanic spinner lost his aura and was looking mediocre to the very last thought. He lost his flight, the loop and the doosra, the brahmastra of his arsenal.

Critics targeted Harbhajan, but India was not able to find a suitable replacement for him. It was a shame considering India’s rich spin history. There wasn’t a suitable replacement that could be called ‘threatening’. The Mishras, the Ojhas and the Chawlas were tested, but none had the calibre of Anil Kumble or the Harbhajan of the old. They disappeared after a few chances and India was looking completely clueless for the dearth of fast bowlers has already plagued us for quite some time now.

India had no choice but to retain Harbhajan and put up with his mediocrity. Meanwhile, Ashwin burst on the big stage with credible performances in the Indian Premier League, earning the confidence of his skipper. Dhoni, who was looking for a suitable back-up, picked Ashwin and he was a success overnight. It turned the tables for Harbhajan who was left to toil in the domestic circuit, and rightly so.

Ashwin joined hands with Pragyan Ojha and had a ball in the middle, both literally and figuratively. He was considered as the able successor to Anil Kumble as he was picking up wickets in heap, not to mention the century he scored against West Indies. The bowling looked lethal once more as Ashwin and Ojha cleaned up a brittle New Zealand batting. It looked like India was well set for the England showdown in October-November as the “Aane-do” call went on air.

Dhoni was mighty confident of his team’s chances and BCCI backed him up by not letting the English batsmen play spin in any of their practice matches. The joke was on India as England romped home with a 2-1 series win over India. The shortcomings of the ‘spin-twins’ were put on public display. Dhoni was criticised for not using Harbhajan properly as he was supposedly under bowled in the Mumbai Test.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan was persisted with only on the basis of experience and not due to his current form. He had a rotten form in domestic cricket and the way the rookies handled him in the Ranji trophy implied that the days of the ‘Turbanator’ was gone, well and truly. Still, India did not have a choice as they picked him in the squad to play against Australia. His previous exploits against Australia were kept in mind as the selectors went for him and they expected that a face-off against his old foes would ignite his form.

They couldn’t have been more mistaken. He was selected in the playing eleven ahead of a ‘performing’ Ojha. The reason Dhoni made that selection was due to the presence of more left-handers in the Australian playing eleven even as Laxman criticised Dhoni for ‘under-bowling’ him for a second time in a row.

It was hilarious to hear that comment. Anyone who saw the match could see the difference in level of bowling between him and Ashwin. While Ashwin was weaving magic, Harbhajan looked ordinary next to him. He tried his best; one could say that and leave the judgement to the wise-men of cricket. If they are to regret their decision in the selections, they would probably be pointing Harbhajan’s name on the team list.

Harbhajan did not deserve to get selected; his record in the last two years has been indifferent and so has been his attitude. The zeal to perform and the hunger to pick wickets – the two attributes of Harbhajan are lost forever and India would do better to move on!