Off-spinner to half the spinner..!!.
What’s happening to the “Turbanator” these days? Just ‘one’ wicket in the recently concluded Trent Bridge test for 200 + runs!!
If you ask me the real reason for this ‘Naughty’gam defeat, I would squarely blame the Indian bowlers.
Those who watched the test match on TV will certainly agree with me. The conditions were for the bowlers. Ball was swinging madly and the bounce was just unpredictable. When a bowler of Praveen Kumar’s caliber & pace, was able to produce such a delivery that ‘took off’ suddenly and damaged the left (top) hand of the right hand batsman Swann, well, this wicket was a volcano.
In such wicket and condition, our pace bowlers except for PK, allowed the English team to recover from 120 for eight to 221 all out in the first innings. In the second, England scored a massive 544 when the conditions were the same. Praveen was able to worry the batsmen with his swing, but his lack of pace went against him.
What were Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth doing in these conditions? They let the Indian side down badly. If they had bowled even 25% of what the English bowlers did, we could have given some fight in this match. Both were bowling like school boys without line, length, pace, swing or effort. We witnessed just mediocre bowling.
When you analyze the match, this Indian spineless bowling was the main reason for this debacle. The batting was tough. This we noticed in England first innings and during Indian’s both outings. The wicket behaved unplayable. Even seasoned campaigner Dravid struggled throughout. So once again our boys proved that without Zaheer, Indian bowling is nil.
In this match, in particular, and in other matches of this tour, Harbhajan could not have done anything special but my concern today is his recent form and ability. He is not the same Bhajji, we have seen before this year.
In his last 14 Tests, Harbhajan has picked up just one five-for and 50 wickets at 40.60 apiece. And those wickets have a very high percentage of lower-order batsmen
The year was 2001, when Team India scripted one of the most remarkable comebacks in Test cricket history. Australia toured India for a three-match Test series and was beaten 1-2 from a point where it looked like they would conquer their “final frontier.”
A young off-spinner by the name Harbhajan Singh, was making a return to the Test squad after a gap of more than a year. His series tally of 32 wickets, coupled with VVS Laxman’s heroics with the bat, helped India beat Steve Waugh’s Australia to help usher in a new era in Indian cricket. India found a new hero and the fans felt that they could look beyond Anil Kumble for a world class spinner.
I don’t really believe statistics, but I just want to mention the difference in performance before and now.
Ten years on, that same off-spinner has played more than 90 Test matches and has picked up more than 400 wickets. However, over the last one year his performances have gone down and he hasn’t shown the effectiveness that he displayed so consistently in his career.
As one of the celebrated commentators might say “this man only looks like Harbhajan but doesn’t bowl anything like him.” The “Turbanator” has started bowling a lot flatter which has meant the turn, the flight and the ‘doosra’ have all-together disappeared.
This article dwells deep into his performances over the last year to find out what has gone wrong.
Here are his Test match career stats to date:
Tests | <><> <>Wickets | <><> <>Average | <><> <>5 WI | <><> <>10 WM | <><> <>Innings Best | <><> <>Match Best | <><> <>
97 | <><> <>405 | <><> <>32.13 | <><> <>25 | <><> <>5 | <><> <>8-84 | <><> <>15-217 | <><> <>
| <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> |
| <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> | <><> <> |
Here are his stats before and after the said Test match. These numbers do tell the real story and it does not paint a pretty picture:
Particulars | <><> <>Tests | <><> <>Wickets | <><> <>Average | <><> <>5 WI | <><> <>10 WM | <><> <>Innings Best | <><> <>Match Best | <><> <>
Before Galle 2010 | <><> <>83 | <><> <>355 | <><> <>30.94 | <><> <>24 | <><> <>5 | <><> <>8/84 | <><> <>15/217 | <><> <>
After Galle 2010 | <><> <>14* | <><> <>50 | <><> <>40.60 | <><> <>1 | <><> <>0 | <><> <>7/120 | <><> <>7/195 | <><> <>
*Including the Lord’s Test against England
In his last 14 Test matches, Harbhajan has averaged almost ten points more than what he used to average before the Galle Test match. As a result his overall career average has risen from 30.94 to 32.13. In this period he has picked up just one five-wicket haul which was against South Africa at Cape Town.
Prior to Galle 2010, a five-wicket haul used to come at an interval of almost three Test matches. An average of 40.60 indicates that he is conceding far too many runs per wicket - not something one expects from a premier spinner.
An alarming fact about his bowling over the last year has been the high percentage of lower order batsmen he has been dismissing. There can be an odd series where the percentage of lower order dismissals is high, but to maintain it over a year is not a good sign for any bowler. Here is a series - excluding the ongoing England-India series-wise break-up of his dismissals to indicate the high percentage of lower-order wickets.
For the purpose of this article, top order batsmen would constitute the top five of a batting line-up and the lower order shall constitute the rest. However, night-watchmen, irrespective of where they have batted have been considered to be a part of the lower order and the effective downward shift of the other batsmen in the batting order hasn’t been considered. These batsmen have been deemed to have batted at their original spots.
Here it is:
Opponents | <><> <>Test | <><> <>Wickets | <><> <>No 1-5 | <><> <>No 6-11 | <><> <>% of Lower order Wkts | <><> <>
Sri Lanka | <><> <>2 | <><> <>2 | <><> <>2 | <><> <>0 | <><> <>0.00% | <><> <>
Australia | <><> <>2 | <><> <>11 | <><> <>6 | <><> <>5 | <><> <>45.45% | <><> <>
NZ | <><> <>3 | <><> <>10 | <><> <>5 | <><> <>5* | <><> <>50.00% | <><> <>
SA | <><> <>3 | <><> <>15 | <><> <>8 | <><> <>7** | <><> <>46.67% | <><> <>
WI | <><> <>3 | <><> <>11 | <><> <>4 | <><> <>7 | <><> <>63.63% | <><> <>
**Paul Harris was the night watchman in the third Test.
The worrying factor for India is that the percentage in question is consistently over the 45% mark and, in fact, hit 63 in the series against the West Indies. Thus, his isn’t very effective against the top-order batsmen. Mind you, the lower order batsmen include the tailenders as well. It is his fast spinners - if you may call them spin - that are getting them out, but aren’t any cause of worry to the top five.
India plays with four specialist bowlers in their line-up. The fact that they lack a quality all-rounder puts even more responsibility on the four bowlers. Currently, Harbhajan’s performance is hurting team India as he isn’t picking up important wickets. This adds to the pressure on the likes of Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan. It is because of his ineffectiveness with the old ball, the fast bowlers have to pull a rabbit out of the hat. India can ill-afford a strike bowler who is consistently inconsistent. A strike bowler is in the side to pick up wickets and not just roll the arm over to fill in the overs.
People may argue that he has 400 wickets to his name, but the bowler who has 400 wickets today and the one who had 355 wickets a year ago are two different players. The missing player has to return or the so-called “spinner” has to be replaced.
India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh came under severe criticism from Wasim Akram for his performance at Lord's with the former Pakistan captain calling for the inclusion of leg-spinner Amit Mishra in his place. This was before Nottingham test. Now I am sure the entire nation will support Akram.
"Harbhajan looked off-color at West Indies as well as at Lords & Trent Bridge. He got very little spin, his line was also very bad. On the other hand, Graeme Swann bowled beautifully though he didn’t get many wickets (as the fast bowlers were stealing the show). He showed a lot of variation,"
"I do not remember one occasion when he bowled a bad ball. I think it's about time that Mishra came in. English batsmen have traditionally been poor against leg-spinners. Besides, Mishra is a very intelligent bowler. I saw him bowling in the IPL and he impressed me a lot. To cut it short, Mishra should play in the next match,"
Harbhajan should go back to local matches and work hard and get back his guile and rhythm. If India wants to win Test matches consistently, especially in foreign conditions, it needs to have five bowlers in the team. But the main worry for the Indian team management is that having a fifth bowler in the team would put extra pressure on the six batsmen of the team. In such a case, it will augur well, if there is an all-rounder in the team, who can reduce the pressure of the strike bowlers Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar and bat at No. 6 or 7.
A good prospect for the all-rounder spot would be Irfan Pathan, who made his debut as swing bowler; and under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy found a hidden strength in the form of his batting. He has also scored a century in Test cricket against Pakistan in 2007.
With an all-rounder like Yuvraj Singh or Irfan Pathan, Indian team will not only be able to distribute the workload judiciously amongst the bowlers, but also strengthen the batting line-up; and hence find the right balance in the team. Indian team should try the above two prospects for the all-rounder spot to bring an equilibrium in the team.
I am reminded of the good old saying "When one door closes, another opens”. But we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
A teary eye cannot help in getting a clear vision. As the dust settles down, Indian cricket fans on social media platforms have expectedly gone into an overdrive with their chest-beating and berating the Indian cricket team’s performance against England. There cannot be any arguments that what matters in the end is the final result and fans have a legitimate reason to be upset about the defeat in the first Test.
But if a holistic and unemotional view is taken of the match, Indian cricket fans would derive some satisfaction from the enormous gains from a losing Test.
Zaheer Khan’s value to the Indian attack is far greater than Sachin Tendulkar’s batting to the Indian line-up. While Tendulkar has several world class support, Zaheer is a long time lone ranger on whom the Indian attack and hopes revolve. When he walked away on Day One with a hamstring injury, India was fighting an unequal battle in the Test.
I understand both Harbhajan and Yuvraj are not available for the reminder of the series due to “Injuries”!! But the good news is Zaheer and Sehwag are likely to play the third test.
The Turbanator is out, but “The Terminators” are back! And that’s awesome news for a team that is in dire need of quality players.
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