harbhajan debuted about a decade ago... went on to become the 'turbunator' but his current form specially in shorter version of game does not justifies the name he is fondly called even today...
right now he seems to be more into protecting his image... from an attacking off spinner he has confided himself to throwing darts with some success initially but now he is neither saving runs nor taking wickets... at the times when india were looking at him to don the responsibility of being the leader of the pack he seems wanting to even press his claim for just another bowler in our ranks to put it mildly... but for his batting he seems to be on last clutches as far as making into team as bowler alone goes...
on the other hand we have amit mishra...
even after debuting nearly seven years ago... he still seems to be struggling to keep his place in the team as team india still prefers harbhajan as the leading spinner while the form indicates anything but that... whenever he is given limited opportunities mishra has left impression with his guile... flight and spin even on not so helpful pitches... in fact it felt very refreshing after seeing someone spinning the ball which is rare art as far as team india goes... last time when the blogger saw some one using the flight and pace variations in classic manner was ramesh powar which was again left in the cold despite being decent bat and not a bad fielder than harbhajan... but that's beyond the scope of this post...
mishra has always been the sacrificial goat in the name of 'team balance' while even dhoni admitted after smarting from the defeat from pakistan that if a part timer or one of the main bowler goes for lots of runs that anyways puts pressure on the batsmen coz then they have to score much more then they should have... and that's exactly what happened in the encounter between india and pakistan... had we had the choice of second specialist spin bowler in middle overs on that dry surface hard to find even in subcontinent these days... we could have restricted pakistan to a manageable total and as the final result suggested that was the crucial mistake on the part of dhoni and team management... as the seventh batsman, yousuf pathan, could only score 5 runs in 10 balls... aptly showing the futility of the thought behind the defensive move...
india must play their best bowlers which gives them chance to force the issue in the match and if in doing say they need to play two spinners even on not so helpful conditions... so be it...
according to me harbhajan has lost the right to be the leading spinner in the team and he can be better utilised if he is given bit more responsibility as batsman in the team... so i would like to make him the no. 7 batsman in team india... usually reserved for a bowling allrounder and play four specialist bowlers depending upon the prevailing conditions...
he has played very good innings at highest level of late and in fact his partnership with zaheer against australia at home was one of the turning point of the test series that went in india's favor... with zaheer, praveen kumar as well as mishra too are not mug with bat... india will bat deep down with only ishant being of somewhat tailender in real sense though he has shown the glimpse of being india's jason gillespie in past...
it will also be interesting to see how harbhajan reacts to the added responsibility and the emerging competition in the form of mishra in the ranks... making it win-win situation for team india... in short form of the game that is...
time to define the roles of harbhajan and mishra in indian cricket...
shared by straight point on Wednesday, October 07, 2009
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6 comments:
Harbhajan hasn't scored a fifty in ODIs. Hardly the kind of credentials you want from your number 7. He's not even fit to bat at number 8, and he sure as hell isn't fit to be the first-choice spinner.
What about young Piyush Chawla who has done very well in county cricket this year ?
But, sp, ask mishra to stop issuing statements that conteradict his captain's airbrushed version of events designed to deflect blame on others.I mean, when your captain clearly steted bowlers are to blame, then how can you contradict that?
welcome mahek at SP! hope you will keep dropping by...
bhajji has scored about 7 half centuries in tests and most of his 50s have come in at very crucial times for india... this shows that there is potential there to be tapped... if we can give him bit more responsibility we can unearth another shastri like allrounder in him... if not we have nothing to lose... at worse it will remain same what it is now...
maza... piyush tho has done well in county circuit but i guess he will have to do it more substantial than that at domestic games... like couple of five-fors in winning cause to get the notice of selectors...
ojha too was unlucky but i guess having three spinners in squad is the luxary we can ill afford given that harbhajan's name is written first on team sheet for reasons known only to the five wise men (selectors)...
excellent point raj...
one needs to have more than skill... talent to make a career and when to speak and when to not is also an essential part of it... but i guess he was just trying to portray that not all bowlers were at fault... some were (like him) not even considered when others were going for hammer...
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