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My Blue-Eyed Fox

Harbhajan's greatest virtue is that he will try till the end to make himself a better cricketer and a better person. I believe he is among the best things that could have happened to Indian cricket.

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My Blue-Eyed Fox
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A good lather on the face is worth half the shave. The way Harbhajan Singh began his career was remarkable. He has learnt a lot since his debut and, according to me, he will play more matches for India than anybody from Punjab will, in the near future. I saw him the first time in a Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh. We were steamrolling them. But before I went out to bat, somebody asked me to watch out for this young lad. Eventually, when I went out to bat, this boy of 15 or 16 came out to bowl at me. After the first six balls I faced of him, I knew this guy will play for India one day. I was very impressed with the way he bowled at me. The balls spat at me. The lad could pull the ball the way he wanted to as though he had it by a string. And he had a lot of attitude. The right kind of attitude and aggression. He was not scared of anything. He didn't care about the reputation of the chap who was batting. He just wanted the wicket. He just hated being hit. This kind of aggression is very rare in a spinner. I got very excited about him. I told everybody that this was someone to watch out for.

After about two years, the Indian team called him to check him out at the nets. But I guess that time they were not very impressed. But his day soon came. And I should mention the exceptional efforts of Saurav Ganguly in having full faith in Harbhajan and backing him to the hilt. Talent is nothing without opportunities. And Saurav gave him all the support he could.

The most interesting aspect of Harbhajan is his loop. That's what makes him successful too. His loop is such that the ball goes above the eye level. And when that happens it becomes very difficult for the batsman to play. And he has got a fatal bounce—that nip especially on Indian pitches which can be very disconcerting. Add to these his subtle variations and a beautifully disguised away-going delivery, and you have a terrific bowler. His away-going ball, in fact, is so good that a lot of players get stuck in the middle of a shot. A good batsman has to carefully watch his hand when he delivers the ball, to read it correctly. The away-going ball is very important to an off-spinner. Without it, he becomes very predictable. He will provide easy fodder to good batsmen who will keep hitting him over mid-on. When I saw him first, he didn't have the away-going delivery. He has worked very hard on it and included it in his armoury. Today, according to me, he has everything a spinner would want to possess.

Obviously I like him a lot. But I am not blind enough not to see his weaknesses. He is very used to Indian pitches and so like other Indian spinners, his record abroad and at home are two different stories. He doesn't seem to be as menacing away from home. He doesn't get the same amount of turn. That's the crucial difference between him and great spinners like Murali and Warne. Murali and Warne are wrist spinners. When Murali bowls, there is so much that has gone into the ball at the time of delivery that the revolutions per minute on the ball is much higher than that of Harbhajan. So Murali's ball spins more, no matter which part of the earth he is playing in. Harbhajan is a finger-spinner, and so he has to work towards neutralising the limitations he has in turning the ball while playing outside India. Personally, I wouldn't like to compare Murali and Harbhajan but if I have to, then there is no doubt in my mind that at this point in time, Murali is ahead of my blue-eyed boy. Murali has performed remarkably in all parts of the world. Traditionally, an off- spinner's action is looked at with suspicion but I have no opinions to share on that. I would rather steer clear of that issue.

Harbhajan's greatest virtue is that he will try till the end to make himself a better cricketer and a better person. I already see major changes in him as a bowler and as a person. When he was young, he was thrown out of the National Cricket Academy because I think he threw a tray of food away because he didn't like it. He was young and a bit indisciplined. Today he is much calmer and more mature. As a spinner you have to be patient. You have to buy your wickets. He is getting into that mould.

Meanwhile, the number of people who are fond of him is only growing. Nobody who knows him can hate him. He is a big entertainer in the dressing room. Not many know of one great talent that he has. He can imitate anybody. And he can do it so well. He used to imitate me all the time. In the Punjab dressing room, he would entertain us by imitating everybody. Of particular joy to all of us was when he imitated the management and some officials. It can never be too boring when he is around. He is a kid full of life. A kid who wants to learn all the time. When he started off, his English was very bad. So bad that he used to hide in the dressing room when the press hunted for him. Now he is getting more comfortable with the language. Another pointer to the fact that this lad is a hard-working learner.

When he first got into the Indian side, he got a bit carried away. Anybody would get carried away in the beginning when he plays for India. Suddenly you are a star and everybody wants a piece of you. It happened to him. All the attention and adulation got to him. There were signs of indiscipline and complacency creeping in. He was not practising as hard as he used to. When I met him during that period I told him, "you used to come to the nets and keep bowling to every batsman. You used to bowl for five hours. What has happened now?" I think he slowly began to come down to earth. He began to understand the importance of having a solid head. Fortunately, I always had a good rapport with him. I was like his elder brother. Whenever I meet him I tell him that I have great hopes from him. I tell him, "Don't let me down". And he would say, "Yes paaji". He knows today that as a star in this cricket-mad country, there will be many distractions, many things will lure him but he has to fight all the devils away. And he is the kind of chap who will survive this battle. He is not someone who will forget his roots, who will become arrogant.

If there is one serious complaint I have against him, it is that as a batsman he is not being fair to himself. He can do a lot better. I am very disappointed. He has a style of his own. And he has to be left to play his own game. Prodding along is not the way he bats. He is an aggressive player and has to be left to his own device. As a lower order batsman, he has the potential to make very valuable contributions to the score. As a cricketer, I believe he is among the best things that could have happened to Indian cricket. He is a wily old fox with a bag full of tricks.

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