Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh talked about his continued success against former Australia captain Ricky Ponting and the fact that he made the great batter his bunny, repeatedly dismissing him for cheap.
Ponting had an overall Test batting average of 51.85, which spiked to 55.41 against spinners. However, Harbhajan Singh proved to be Ponting’s kryptonite when it came to him struggling against a particular bowler. The former India off-spinner had Ponting's number, and dismissed him 10 times, more than anyone else in Test cricket.
Their rivalry began in 1998 when a 17-year-old Harbhajan sledged Ponting after dismissing him in an ODI of the Coca-Cola Trophy in Sharjah. This all came to head when Harbhajan was successful against the Australia batter in the famous 2001 Border-Gavaskar Test series in India.
"There is no doubt about how great or big a player he was, and whenever he played the game, he wanted to dominate. But what I found as a bowler – it could be just me talking about it or what I felt – bowling against Ponting was that he had very hard hands against defending the ball," Harbhajan said on Brett Lee's podcast.
"So that's what made him vulnerable. His defense was not the greatest. He used to defend with very hard hands. So that's what made his vulnerable. My bounce was something he could not play as well as the other bowlers,” he added.
Harbhajan’s most memorable dismissal against Ponting was probably in the 2001 Eden Gardens Test between India and Australia. He sent Ponting packing for a duck, the first of the three victims of his hat-trick, the first-ever by an Indian bowler in Test cricket.
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Against Harbhajan, Ponting's average slipped to 22.30, and fittingly, the former Australia captain was Harbhajan's 300th Test wicket as well.
However, they both also shared a dressing room when Ponting joined the Mumbai Indians franchise in 2013 IPL.
"Maybe I am lucky that I was able to get him out 11-12 times in Test cricket. But yes, it doesn't make him a lesser player. He is still a top player and if I have to pick my top five guys who dominated world cricket in terms of batting, I would definitely have Ricky Ponting in that list," added Harbhajan.
