Harbhajan Singh
Reflexes
- Harbhajan Singh’s 42nd birthday
- Harbhajan took 417 wickets in the test run
- Harbhajan’s rivalry against Australia is famous
Today is the birthday of former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan, popularly known as ‘Turbanator’, who remained the ‘Terminator’ for many batsmen in the world for many years, celebrates his 42nd birthday today. He was born on July 3, 1980 in the city of Jalandhar in Punjab. During his international cricket career, Bhajji was another scary name for all the batsmen in the world. His rivalry was very exciting and popular with Australian batsmen.
Debut test against Australia
Harbhajan played his first international career match from 25 to 28 March 1998 against Australia in Bangalore. He took two wickets in this match. Kangaroo hitter Greg Blewett was the first career casualty from him, while the second wicket was taken from Darren Lehmann. Australia won this match by eight wickets.
Harbhajan was the biggest fear for Australian batsmen
Harbhajan played the most test matches against Australia in his 17-year career and also the most wickets for this team. In 18 games against the Kangaroos, he took 95 wickets at an average of 29.95. Turbanator took 417 wickets in his Test career and almost 23 per cent of his success came against Australia, the best team in the world at the time.
Kangaroo bowed to Harbhajan in the 2001 Test series
It’s Harbhajan’s birthday, so mention of the 2001 Test series against Australia abounds. In this series of three tests, the former Indian spinner took a total of 32 wickets. He earned just four wickets in the first test held in Mumbai and India lost the match. In the two matches that followed, be it Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist, every Australian batsman fell into the net of Bhajji’s spin. Harbhajan took 28 wickets in the following two matches to guide India to a memorable 2-1 series win.
Bhajji’s career highlight against Australia
The peak of Harbhajan’s career came in the second match of the 2001 Test series against Australia. The spin wizard took a total of 13 wickets in this match held at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He also scored the first hat-trick of his career in the same match. On his hat-trick, Bhajji first ruled out Ricky Ponting with 6 runs, the second victim was Gilchrist and he walked Shane Warne for the third straight ball. The Indian team recorded a historic victory despite still playing in this match.
He played his last international game seven years ago
Harbhajan Singh played the last test of his career against Sri Lanka in Galle on 12-15 August 2015. He only had one breakthrough in this match in the form of Jehan Mubarak.
