400-man Harbhajan’s unforgettable 2001 home series

As Harbhajan Singh celebrates his 400 test scalps, Clayton Murzello dishes out some tales related to the offie's famous 2001 home series against Steve Waugh's Australians

400-man Harbhajan's unforgettable 2001 home series

As Harbhajan Singh celebrates his 400 test scalps, Clayton Murzello dishes out some tales related to the offie's famous 2001 home series against Steve Waugh's Australians

Harbhajan claims the wicket of Aussie Jason Gillespie during the 2001
Chennai Test. Pic/Getty Images

"You know what he did to the Australians in that series (Harbhajan got 32 wickets). Harbhajan is an artist and is always finding ways to improve his bowling. I've told him a few things but I don't want to get into that in great detail," said Hirwani.

Bhajji got Ricky's number
IT'S amazing how Harbhajan Singh has troubled Australian batting great Ricky Ponting. The former captain played five innings in the epic three-Test series in India in 2001 and Harbhajan dismissed him on all five occasions. Ponting's run tally for the series was a mere 17.

Hardtalk despite success
EVEN after claiming 32 wickets against Australia, Harbhajan did not escape some hard talk. Erstwhile India off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna was reported in MiD DAY stressing the point that none of Harbhajan's 32 victims were clean bowled by him. Besides, Prasanna told Cricinfo: "All his 32 wickets were given to him. Harbhajan is a class bowler. But he has to learn to be consistent and work harder." For the record, of his 400 Test scalps, 46 have been bowled.

No TV coverage for family
The 2001 home contest against Australia will always rank as Harbhajan's best series, so here's another anecdote related to that battle: Not only did Harbhajan star with the ball, he also hit the winning runs for India to win the series in Chennai with Sameer Dighe at the other end. However, his family in Jallandhar couldn't watch the action on television. When this writer met his family in December 2001, his sister Guddu said: "There was no electricity in our house that day.. We could only listen to radio commentary. Our house was full of people and what a relief it was when the winning runs were scored! The power came on later in the evening and we could only watch the highlights."

Tony Greig's wonder ball
WHERE is the ball with which Harbhajan claimed his hat-trick in the Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001? In all probability, the ball is with former England captain turned commentator Tony Greig, who bought it for Rs 55,000 at a charity auction in 2003. "Since it's going for charity, I don't mind parting with it. I got a hat-trick because of people's blessings. With their blessings, I can get more hat-tricks," Bhajji was quoted as saying by PTI. India awaits another hat-trick!

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