The 98-Test veteran admits that he was not bowling as well as he used to when he was dropped but says it has improved immensely over the last 18 months.
Last 15 months have been a learning curve for Harbhajan Singh. Out of the Test squad, India’s most experienced spinner kept trying to improve. He even had a stint in Essex.
The first big break came when he was included in the World Twenty20 squad. It was then just a matter of time before he was drafted alongside R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha in the Test squad.
“I was not bowling the way I used to when I was dropped from the team. But the last one-and-a-half years have been a great learning experience. I have learned a lot and improved my bowling in this period,” said the Punjab Ranji skipper after his team defeated Hyderabad by an innings and 68 runs in Mohali on Monday.
On his own performance in the Ranji opener in which he could pick only three wickets, Bhajji blamed the track. “How can you expect me to take wickets on a flat track? On the first day, my role was just to contain the batsmen and the pacers were taking the wickets,” replied the offie who has taken 406 wickets in his 98 Test appearances so far.
Asked to react to skipper MS Dhoni’s recent observation that there is hardly any off-spinner who could hit the rib cage area of the batsmen, he said: “Even I’ve not seen anyone hitting the rib cage. But I want to bowl like that if I get to bowl on a good spinning track”.
Indian cricket board, of late, has been asking its curators to roll out green tops in the domestic season, but Bhajji has a different take on this. “A good wicket is the one, which helps the seamers on Day One and spinners later on as the game progresses. Our conditions are completely different from England or else we would be able to take maximum advantage of our spin power,” observed the offie.
“Every player hits a bad patch and I was no exception. Even Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan had gone through a lean period. I’m not a quitter and will give my best on my return,” was the battle-hardened pro’s parting shot.
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