Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh recently revealed that his ability to bowl ‘doosra’ ensured him the way to enter into the Indian team early on in his career.
In a recent interview with former teammate and opener Aakash Chopra on his YouTube show AakashVani, Harbhajan recalled how he managed to catch the attention of Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, and then captain Mohammad Azharuddin during a net session in Mohali.
Harbhajan said on the chat show, “The doosra helped me in getting selected early on in the Indian team. There were not many bowlers bowling the doosra at that time. That delivery of mine was slightly better than others. I used to call it leg-cutter, it was named as doosra because Moin Khan from behind the stumps used to shout to Saqlain Mushtaq ‘Saqi doosra daal de, doosra daal de’, so it got famous. That leg-cutter helped me in getting into the Indian team.”
The cricketer further recalled how he was nervous when he was first asked to bowl at the nets during a Test match in Mohali. He said: “I was called in at the nets in Mohali during a Test match. They said ‘you come in here, we want to have a look at you’. So, I got scared of what will happen. By the time I reached there, the net sessions were almost completed.”
The off-spinner continued, “Debasish Mohanty was batting at the nets. Azhar Bhai, Sachin, they all had already had their batting session. I remember Azzu Bhai was having lunch. When I reached there, they said ‘oh, he’s a youngster, let him bowl a few deliveries at least’. When I was bowling, Sachin Tendulkar was standing by my side. He was bowling at the nets. I had bowled 7-8 deliveries to Mohanty and he got out 4-5 times. He was Mohanty after all, not Sachin Tendulkar.”
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Meanwhile, Harbhajan also recalled Sachin Tendulkar’s words of advice early on in his career that did wonders for Harbhajan to become one of the great off-spinners in world cricket and even he always kept it with him throughout his career.
The bowler further recalled, “Then, suddenly Ajay Jadeja saw me, he called Azzu Bhai ‘look at this boy’, so he also saw me. Then Sachin spoke to me and he said ‘keep your focus on the game. I wish you all the best, I hope you play for India’. Sachin’s words of advise were to keep my focus on the game.”
He signed off by saying, “From that day I decided that I have to keep not only 100 percent, but 120 percent focus on my game. Because I realized that if I want to play for India, then I have to put in even more effort. That was the day when I was spotted, and a year later, I was playing Test cricket for India.”
Noteworthy, the off-spinner eventually made his Test debut in 1998 against Australia in Bengaluru and went on to become an integral part of the India team in the 2000s. He is still regarded as one of the finest off-spinners to have played the game with 417 wickets in 103 Tests and 269 wickets in 236 ODIs. He has also played 28 T20Is for India in which he has taken 25 wickets.
Having played his last international match in 2016, Harbhajan is still hoping to make comeback to the international circuit by continuously piling his trade in the Indian Premier League and domestic circuit.
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
