Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh Biography

•Full Name- Harbhajan Singh Plaha
•Born- July 3rd 1980
•Age- 32
•Debut(tests)- Against Australia 25th March 1998
•Debut (ODI)- Against New Zealand 17th April,1998
•Debut (T20)-  1st December,2006 V/s South Africa
•Teams Played-India, Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Essex
• Batting  style – Right hand batsman
•Bowling  Discipline- Right Arm off break Bowler
•Role- bowler

Harbhajan Singh the most loved and most watched cricketer on the strip of 22 yards. Under instigation early on his career itself Harbhajan has always aimed at playing and being the best on the cricket field. His debut at the age of 18 did not have the ingredients of a fairly tale debut but clearly signaled the beginning of a genuine match player as far as India is concerned. The man from Punjab with a big heart has made the most of his place in the Indian Side with both bowl and a couple of times steered the team out of troubled waters with his batting.

Early Life- Harbhajan Singh Plaha was born into a family of six children of which he was the second youngest. The major inspiration for Harbhajan was his father Sardev Singh who encouraged him to take up cricket and preserve in the sport in the best possible manner. This inspiration carried on with Harbhajan especially as he started making inroads into the domestic circuit with his bowling and singular performances. This earned him a call into the Indian National Squad within no time.

He represented the country at the age of 18 years in both formats of the game. However he was deeply grieved with the demise of his father in 2000. He was then left with the responsibility of his house at the age of 20 and he has faithfully accomplished firstly with the arranged marriages of his three elder sisters.  Not many know that Harbhajan was a batsman and took to spin bowling after his coaches’ death

Career- Harbhajan made his debut for India in Test matches in the year 1998. His stand out performance against Haryana picking 12 earned him a place in the Indian squad.  This came on the back of his consistent bowling performance with his side Punjab. His hardwork and Firm resolve saw him make a debut alongside the premier Indian bowlers like Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumble. He made his test and ODI debut in the same year against the Tasmanian team of New Zealand and Australia. He impressed with his disciplined line and style of bowling. However in the earlier part of his career his r off break action came under instigation a couple of times over and he was probed for a suspected action. However he used this opportunity to play Ranji Trophy and excelled in theses matches .However The turning point in Harbhajan Career came against Australia.

Under the captaincy of Sourav Gaungly and with able guidance of his senior and experienced bowling partner Anil Kumble . Harbhajan starred with the ball scalping wickets against Australia in the test at Eden  Gardens. That season was special for Harbhajan and in that season he evolved as match winning bowler in the Australia and England Series. Against the touring English Team Harbhajan starred with match figures of 7/110, including 5/51 in the first innings, to help India win the First Test by ten wickets. He proved to be compatible force against the opposing teams. His performance also consolidated the fact that he was ready to the take mantle of shielding of spin bowling for the team. However he wasn’t fully able to assert himself top this responsibility as he performed rather poorly on tours outside the country and was sidelined for the main line spinner in the team Anil Kumble.

However his subsequent return in the team saw him performed and deliver with exceptional results.  1/37 and 7/48 in an innings victory at Mumbai in the First Test against the West Indies, and then contributed match figures of 3/56, 4/79 and 37 in an eight-wicket victory in Chennai which saw him named man of the match. The 2003 Cricket World Cup however was not the best for him and was played in only three matches. However he continued to remain an important and major player at home and contributed to making India a reckonable force at home. The Chappell era saw considerable performances from the bowler however he failed to make an impact with his performances.

The post Chappel Era saw Harbhajan perform well and more importantly with the ball. The call up for the Inaugural T20 world cup saw the beginning of Harbhajan reign as India’s premier bowler and starred with invaluable performances.  He made yet another return in year 2009 and continued with some of the best performances. However he was dropped again into 2011 owing to bad performance wherein his wicket taking capacity saw a real dip. However in all this he continues to be one of India’s most successful bowlers with close to 406 wickets at an average of 32.32. and 260 wickets in the 50 over format at an average of 34.4. He has also starred with the bat with two successive centuries in test innings .He also lead his IPL team Mumbai Indians to the Champions Trophy title in 2011.

CRITICSIM AND CONTROVERISES- Harbhajan has also been known as a controversial person In India. On several occasions he has been punished for his discipline and rash behavior. Firstly he was selected to train under the spin quartet of the 70’s Erapalli Prasana and Venkat Ragahavan he was dismissed on grounds of indiscipline. His job contract with Air India was also cancelled on grounds of indiscipline. He was also involved in altercation with the media and security professional outside his team hotel. The commercially viable cricket star was also criticized for his one of his ad films in which is seen without hgis turban.

This lead to fans burning effigies of the bowler outside the city of Amritsar. On the field as well Harbhajan has been charged. His first altercation of the field was with Aussie cricketer Ricky Pointing. However the most infamous instances on the field was the monkey gate Controversy which involved Andrew Symonds and the heated flare that saw Harbhajan slapped fellow teammate Sreeshanth in an IPL game. The bowler declared in an official statement that he was wrong and later left out of the team.

MAJOR TEST WICKETS/ RECORDS/ ACEHIVEMNETS
?1st: Greg Blewett (Australia)
?50th: Ricky Ponting (Australia)
?100th: Wavell Hinds (West Indies)
?150th: Nathan Astle (New Zealand)
?200th: Charles Coventry (Zimbabwe)
?250th: Ricky Ponting (Australia)
?300th: Ricky Ponting (Australia)
?350th: JP Duminy (South Africa)
?400th: Carlton Baugh (West Indies)
He has dismissed Ricky Pointing a record ten times in his Career.

Best Performances
Against Australia at Eden Gardens and
Invariably that series marked the beginning of Harbhajan Singh. He simply played his heart out in that match and proved his prowess with the cricket ball in the most effective manner possible.HE continued his performance in that whole series with 7 for 133 and 8 For 84 and was subsequently named the Man of the series for his bowling performances. He proved that quality bowling can stun even the best in the world.

5 For 31 against England at Feroz Shah Kotla in 2004-05
His best figures, Harbhajan Singh spuned both the ball and the game into India’s favour with stellar performance and this was comeback game for the Turbanator whose performance was enough again to assert the title.

70of 74 balls V/ S West Indies at the Sabina Park.
India was struggling at 85 for the loss of 6 wickets and HarbhajanSingh along with Suresh Raina at the other end steered India out of troubled waters and played a vice captain innings in what was a rather ordinary bowling match for him.

Harbhajan Singh is known for his come backs and astral performances with bat and ball when the team needed it the most. He has made comebacks after being excluded and then reincluded in team but when on song he is an unstoppable and impressionable match winner both in white flannels and Indian colors.

Personal Life- Though he has been denied the various linkup that has been associated with in his career. The latest news however and new development about his personal life is that Harbhajan Singh and Geeta Basra would be getting married in September 2012.The ceremony is expected to be a grand affair and would be held in Yorkshire England.

ODI STATS
Batting
Matches'-151
Runs-3699
Average-35.56
100/50 -3/24
Catches- 63

Bowling
Matches-151
Wickets-16
Average-55.31
Best Bowling-2/7

TESTS STATS

Batting
Matches-17
Runs-768
Average-28.44
100/50 -1/7
Catches- 22

Bowling
Matches-17
Wickets- 15
Average-40.92
Best Bowling-2/1

T20 STATS

Batting
Matches-26
Runs-631
Average-33.21
100/50 -1/3
Catches- 9

Bowling
Matches-26
Wickets- 5
Average-25.80
Best Bowling-2/49

Test Batting Stats
Innings- 12
Runs-353
No-3
Best- 103
Average- 39.32
100-1
50-1
Strike Rate- 73.23
Catches- 2

Bowling
Matches-8
Wickets-49
Average- 26.63
Best wickets-6/31
Ecomomy- 3.05