Why Harbhajan Singh Is Under Pressure for India After 1st Test vs. Sri Lanka
The first Test between Sri Lanka and India was a tale of two spinners. Harbhajan Singh, though, was not one of them.
Harbhajan's team-mate Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 10 wickets in the match, and India manoeuvred themselves into a match-winning position by the end of Day 3 in Galle, Sri Lanka.
However, chasing 176 in the final innings, the tourists somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
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They fell under the spell of Rangana Herath in their second innings. The Sri Lankan left-armer picked up seven for 48 to see the home side to a 63-run triumph.
Herath's heroics left India to ponder the makeup of their side. India fielded five front-line bowlers in the series opener, meaning wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha batted at six in the order.
Their policy looked set to pay off, but India would have welcomed an extra batsman in their lineup when they fell apart in pursuit of such a meagre target on Day 4.
Defeats like that leave scars. They will not want history to be repeated in the second Test, which starts on August 20.
If they want to strengthen their batting resources, one of the quintet of bowlers will have to go.
Ashwin’s place in the XI for the next match in Colombo is guaranteed after his performance in the series opener, but fellow offspinner Harbhajan is not so certain to avoid the ax.
The 35-year-old was a peripheral figure in Galle, finishing with figures of one for 90 from 25 overs. Of the trio of spinners selected by India—Ashwin and leggie Amit Mishra, who picked up five wickets, being the others—he was the least successful.
Harbhajan is no stranger to being in the spotlight—he has experienced plenty of ups and downs in a Test career that has now spanned more than 17 years.
No active bowler in the world game has taken more than his 417 scalps in 103 Test appearances. He took 32 of them in a three-match series against Australia in 2001 that he will forever be remembered for, as he helped India to a 2-1 victory after they had lost the first Test and been forced to follow on in the second.
That stunning series, though, was over 14 years ago.
It was not the same Harbahajan who was in action in Galle, per Ajit Vijaykumar of Sport360.com:
"In the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle, Harbhajan was simply poor, there is no other way to put it.
On a wicket that had so much for the slow bowlers, Bhajji was disconcertingly easy to handle. Gone are the loop, revolutions on the ball, dip and turn.
His line of attack is more in line with the stumps now, which is a classic sign of an off-spinner looking to restrict rather than attack.
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Harbhajan has not been a regular for India since midway through 2011.
He appeared in his first Test in more than two years when he was picked to play away against Bangladesh in Fatullah in June this year. The comeback was a quiet one—he claimed three wickets in a game that was ruined by rain.
However, he was chosen for the one-day tour to Zimbabwe that followed, playing in all three 50-over games and one of the Twenty20 fixtures.
His selection in limited-overs cricket came off the back of a successful Indian Premier League campaign with Mumbai Indians. He picked up 18 wickets in the tournament at an average of 24.77, showing there is life in the old dog yet.
However, Aakash Chopra of ESPN Cricinfo believes the growth of T20 cricket in recent years has not helped Harbhajan's Test prospects, writing: "I think the reason his offices became less effective was that he didn't bowl enough of them in the nets and in matches. And that might have something to do with the introduction of T20 cricket and with playing a lot of one-day cricket."
Harbhajan's doosra—a onetime devastating delivery that spins away from right-handed batsmen rather than his stock ball that turns in—no longer has the same element of surprise.
With the mystery gone, Harbhajan no longer carries the same threat in the longer format.
Since August 2011, he has taken 11 wickets at an average of 41.19 in five Tests, comfortably below his career mark of 32.46.
He will hope to get one more chance to impress in the longest format, though the announcement that Stuart Binny has been called up to India's squad is a signal changes may be afoot.
Per ESPN Cricinfo, Binny—a seam-bowling all-rounder who can bat at six in the order—was an
"addition" to the touring party in Sri Lanka rather than arriving as cover for injuries.
No longer the force he once was, Harbhajan could find himself left out of India’s team again. It is an experience he has become used to, but being dropped in Sri Lanka could be the final chapter in his Test story.
All stats used in the article are from ESPN Cricinfo
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