India's veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh has made an interesting statement for former Australia captain Ricky Ponting. He recalled the 2001 Test series between India and Australia in which the home side had a couple of historic victories.
Harbhajan said Ponting was so nervous in the series that his presence with the ball was enough to get him out.
"After that when the 2001 series happened it felt like he was not playing the ball but getting out just by watching my face. He was not focusing on the ball at all, if he was focusing on the ball I don’t think anyone would get out so many times and that too so easily," Harbhajan told on Sports Show 'Cricket Connected'.
In the 5 innings, Ponting had a horrible record as he scored only 17 runs, including 3 ducks. The India spinner had picked up a hat-trick at Kolkata in the second match of the series.
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Harbhajan also revealed the banter with Ponting during a match in Sharjah. His words had triggered the ex-Australia skipper so much that he came down the wicket showing his bat.
"The first time I dismissed Ricky Ponting was in Sharjah. It was an ODI match and I got him stumped. After dismissing him, I said something to him that I didn’t know much about. My English wasn’t too good at that time, I had heard that word from a lot of people, so I also said that.
"Because of that, I got banned from the next match. But my memory is that when he got out and I signaled him to go out, he came towards me with his bat as though he was going to hit me. So, I got a bit scared if he would really hit me." Harbhajan recalled.
In another face-off with Ponting, Harbhajan had nearly accompanied Ponting to the pavilion after dismissal. It happened during a match in Sydney and the offie got carried away because Ricky said he couldn't get him out outside India.
"My special celebration for Ricky Ponting was in Sydney. Because he had said that I have dismissed him a lot of times in India but it would be difficult to do so in Australia. There also I dismissed him off the first delivery, so I accompanied him almost to the pavilion, doing somersaults all along the way," he said.
