The veteran Indian off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh garnered a lot of limelight with his terrific performance against Australia in the historic 2001 home series. He was named the player of the series as he scalped as many as 32 wickets in 3 Test matches at a phenomenal average of 17.03.
Former Australia skipper, Steve Waugh, who led the visitors on that tour of India, said that if it wasn’t for Harbhajan, Australia would have gone on to win the series. It’s still a record of Harbhajan taking as many wickets in a three-match series or less.
"That's probably why we found him a bit prickly – it was like playing against ourselves."
Steve Waugh reflects on the brilliant career of Indian spin legend, Harbhajan Singh #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/4wO7RB4te4
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 14, 2021
As per cricket.com.au., Steve Waugh said, “He won the series for India in 2001. 32 wickets in 3 Tests. We just couldn’t counteract his bounce. He got this amazing bounce off the length. Every spell he bowled against, he dominated us. Hayden probably took him on and did well, but the rest of us really couldn’t find a way to get on top of him. Without him, we would have won the series. A very influential figure, particularly against us.”
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Harbhajan Singh is considered to be one of India’s best spinners, had scalped as many as 417 Test wickets under his betl, and was particularly very effective against Australia, against whom he went on to take 95 wickets. Waugh said that the reason behind Harbhajan’s success was that he was not a traditional off-spinner.
Explaining the same, Steve Waugh said, “He wasn’t a traditional off-spinner. He got a bit overspin and bounce. It wasn’t always the sharp turn, but the subtle variations and bounce. (We) got caught bat-pad pretty regularly off him.”
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He further added, “He played in the same vein, the same spirit and the same method as we did. That’s probably why we found him a bit prickly because it was like playing against ourselves in the opposition. “He played cricket the Aussie way. He was in your face, a bit of talk, aggressive, positive and he backed himself.”
