While the debate surrounding Team India’s preparations ahead of the South African tour continues, veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has urged that the series against Sri Lanka was not the correct way to prepare for a crucial away tour to the rainbow nation.

Asserting that venues could have also been chosen wisely, Harbhajan opined that Dharmasala with its high altitude, cooler weather, seam movement along with bounce would have given them ideal preparation.

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As quoted in PTI, Bhajji said, “Look I believe the last Sri Lanka series at home served little purpose. We hardly gained anything out of it. Rather a few players could have gone to South Africa early. If not Dharamsala could have been a great place for preparation.”

He further added, “Its high altitude, cooler weather, seam movement along with bounce would have given them ideal preparation before a tough assignment like South Africa.”

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When asked about the exclusion of Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan said, “I was checking a few stats. Under Virat, Ajinkya’s average is less than 40 over 30 Tests. Also last one year he didn’t score that many runs. What if Ajinkya played and India were down 0-2, then would we have said that please bring Rohit. One needs to understand the captain’s point of view also.”

However, Bhajji reckons that while Rahane omission was a 50-50 call, Bhuvneshwar Kumar should have played. He concluded, “Bhuvi is a bigger match-winner in today’s date compared to Ishant Sharma. Whenever Bhuvi has performed, India has done well. I still believe all is not lost. We can bounce back and make it 2-1 in Johannesburg. My advice to the team would be to remain positive. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. So we should go for it.”