Harbhajan Singh

Full Name : Harbhajan Singh Plaha
Birthday : 3 July 1980
Birth Place : Jalandhar
Country : India
Batting : Right Hand Bat
Bowling : Right Arm Off Break
ODI Debut : India v New Zealand at Sharjah, Coca-Cola Cup, 1997/98
Test Debut : India v Australia at Bangalore, 3rd Test, 1997/98

Profile
Harbhajan Singh's road to glory has not been an easy one. The 20-year-old off-spinner from Jullunder was plagued by allegations of a jerk in his bowling action and insinuations of having attitude problems. After almost losing his job with employers Indian Airlines and being saddened immensely by the death of his father, Harbhajan was reborn as a cricketer.

Training doubly hard, the fiery youngster readied himself for the touring Australians. In the absence of ace leg-spinner Anil Kumble, India were desperately on the look out for a strike bowler. Bowling with a high arm action, extracting good bounce and considerable turn on good Test match wickets, Harbhajan Singh destroyed the Aussies by scalping 32 wickets in the three Test series. Harbhajan's performance had outdone the previous best wicket tally for an Indian in a Test series against Australia, beating legendary left-arm spinner Bishen Singh Bedi's haul of 31 wickets in 1977-78 in Australia. What made the feat especially commendable was the fact that Harbhajan notched up his wickets in three Tests as against Bedi's five.

The most special moment in the series for Harbhajan was undoubtedly the hat-trick he snared in the first innings of the second Test at Kolkata, when he dismissed Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne off successive deliveries. In the three Tests, Harbhajan returned figures of 4/132, 13/196 and 15/217, thereby leading India to a famous 2-1 victory.

In subsequent tours of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in 2001, though, Harbhajan Singh was not able to repeat the magic. After an ordinary series against South Africa, 'Bhajji' once again made his mark with a five-wicket haul against England at Mohali in early 2002 that helped India to the only victory of the series. In the one-dayers too Harbhajan was effective, notching up a career best five for 43 at Mumbai. But the Caribbean did not prove to be a happy hunting ground. Despite yet another five-fer at Jamaica, Harbhajan ended up on the losing side.

A Profile on Harbhajan Singh by Bhavya Kumar Vasudevan

The Sardar from Jalandhar began his career quietly without any hype being created on his debut. There was a look on his face at that time, which reminds me of Parthiv Patel's youth today. Soon after the beginning of his career, Harbhajan Singh was asked questions about his bowling action, which resulted in him being dropped from the Indian side. After sorting out his action he returned with a bang.

Australia's tour of India in 2000-01 proved to be a magical series for Harbhajan. He took a total of 32 wickets in the series toppling all Australian batsman, one after the other. The 32 wickets involved a hattrick in the 1st innings of the second test in Kolkotta where he took 13 wickets in the match, followed by a career best of 8 for 84 in the second innings of the 3rd test in Chennai, where he did even better by picking 15 wickets in the match. This performance along with VVS's batting took the series away from Australia and halted their straight 16 Test Match Wins record. Harbhajan had now announced himself as a potential threat to any team in the World.

Since that Test series, Harbhajan's performance in Test as well as One Day cricket has been consistent. He has not repeated that performance against Australia again as such, but has been taking wickets regularly for India. He is also known to be comically effective with his batting where he has come good at times. His contribution with the bat in the Natwest Trophy final allowed India to reach to that figure of 326. He is a very fine talent for India, but due to injuries Harbhajan is not able to perform regularly. He missed the all important tours of Australia and Pakistan due to the injured right hand middle finger. For his and for the team's sake it is necessary for him to be fully fit, as he will be a very important member of the team for years to come.