Past, Present and Future of Indian Spin - Harbhajan Singh

[Maniraj]

I am not speaking abt complaining to Mods plum.

I know ur posts were not intensional in manmadhan ambu thread.

Naan inga neenga post pannathuku thaan kaetaen

Anyway lets finish it off. Back to the Topic

[jinju]

i agree with only the 'past' part in the thread title. harbhajan of today has lost the flight and loop of earlier, thanks to ODIs n 20-20s. he wants pitches to suit him, then only he'll take wickets aama. even harsha bhogle too in his recent article mentioned something like 'as of now there's noone to challenge him, but one day that challenger will come' and all. it's this kind of PR that has kept him in the team more than the wickets he's supposed to take! what is R. Ashwin but a worthy selection in the team than this overrated bowler. he's doing well in domestic cricket too this season in the longer format. his ability to take wickets even in the powerplay was evident even in today's ODI. When was the last time this India's No:1 spinner took a wicket in the powerplay? idhula inga Plum vera, Present and Future aama! suttham! i don't know why MSD can't back Ashwin in Indian team whereas he backs him to the hilt with instant results when in the CSK XI.

[littlemaster1982]

Jinju,

Search this forum for Plum, negative and chatterjee, you will find what this thread is about

[raajarasigan]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/489006.html

Harsha Bhogle

November 26, 2010

Harbhajan Singh's twin centuries were a joy to watch, evidence that he can bat, and proof to himself, more than to anyone else, that he was selling himself short sometimes. They don't tell you anything more, and indeed, like most good things, they come with a warning.

India now have a more confident No. 8, someone who can stand up to the bowling and shield those below. But India do not have a new No. 7. It would be delusional to think so. It might seem like just a number here and there, and might be workable occasionally for tactical reasons, but batting at No. 7 places a lot of responsibility on the batsman. Suddenly the fifty is no longer a bonus but a necessity. A quick thirty that might boost the score is not good enough.

As their No. 1 spin bowler, Harbhajan needs to win India matches, to work on his craft constantly, to widen his repertoire, indeed even to have time to iron out the little faults that could creep in sometimes. He needs to define himself as the country's No. 1 bowler - certainly he must believe he is - and revel in that role; think as deeply about his bowling as a Tendulkar or a Dravid might about their batting. It is a mindset that could get diluted by thoughts of being an allrounder (which, in any case, has long lost its original definition: as a player who can earn his place in the side as a bowler or batsman alone).

Accordingly Harbhajan will need to guard against believing that taking two wickets and scoring 45 is good enough. Taking five wickets and scoring 15 would be a more valuable contribution most times. This is not to suggest that he ignore his batting. No, banish the thought. Merely that he needs to regard himself as a bowling match-winner first.

Harbhajan has now spent twelve and a half years as an India player and has tended to give the impression in recent times that he is fatigued. It can happen to the best - when your tricks become familiar, your metaphors tired, your slower balls predictable. But it is also a phase that separates the best from the very good. Like Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble did, the great ride the phase and remain standing. When they are not playing as well as they can play, they are still good enough to be better than the challengers. It is a phase that Harbhajan is going through. In the last two Test matches there has been a hint of a new dawn, but South Africa will be the challenge.

And yet he needs to look no further than the man he admires greatly, Kumble. At the same stage in life, after twelve and a half years, Kumble had 349 wickets from 76 Tests to Harbhajan's 378 from 90. From here on, Kumble took a staggering 270 wickets in his last 56 matches. After 90 Tests, Kumble had 434 wickets, he took another 175 from the next 42. These are numbers that Harbhajan can look to for inspiration without getting bowled over by their magnitude.

Kumble's last few years were defined by the strength of his resolve; seen not as much on the field of play as in ensuring that he was fit and ready to go; in constantly analysing and reinventing his craft. When the famous rocket ball started to desert him, he started looping it up more, began bowling the googly that he gripped between thumb and forefinger. But at all times he searched for wickets, at all times he believed that he was going to get them. Some days he dragged his body along.

It is this sort of doggedness that might characterise the second half of Harbhajan's career. It is a phase he is well into now. As his body starts asking more questions, as opposition batsmen experience a sense of déjà vu watching him bowl, as challengers emerge, it is his attitude, his resolve, that will see him through. Indeed, I wonder if a challenger will spur Harbhajan on the way his presence drove Kumble to seek more from himself. That challenger is not threatening at the moment but will arrive, for that is the way of all life.

Glenn McGrath once told me of how he retreated briefly - only metaphorically, of course - to ask himself what kind of cricketer he was and what he sought from his game. Musicians and writers do it and often return refreshed. Maybe he should take a break from limited-overs cricket for a couple of months, start bowling Test match lines, master again the loop and the bounce that marked him out as someone special. And return for the World Cup.

As a bowler, Harbhajan stands at the crossroads. Ahead of him is a door, beyond which lies the path that can take him towards greatness as a bowler. Unlike with lesser cricketers, I believe the key to that door lies with him.

[Plum]

Karthikeya Date on Harbhajan Singh's greatness
An apt article to post in honour of his 400th wicket.

[Plum]

The widespread view seems to be that India's No. 1 off spinner should no longer be India's No. 1 off-spinner. That he is in decline, and that he never takes wickets. In my previous post I spent discussed his record in brief. In this post, I'll compare him to other bowlers.


Lets look at some figures. I look at 5 statistics.
First, a comparison of the career records of spin bowlers in result Tests.
Second, a comparison of the career records of spin bowlers in win.
Third, a comparison of the records of spin bowlers in result Tests in the last 3 years.
Fourth, a comparison of the records of spin bowlers in wins in the last 3 years.
Fifth, a comparison of the records of spin bowlers in win in the last 3 years, excluding minnows.


By looking at result matches, I take away the excuse that wicket was not conducive to a result. At least some bowlers were able to take 20 wickets on that wicket. By looking at wins, I focus on wickets that were presumably friendly for spinners, and matches in which the spinners didn't suffer the wrong end of a crucial toss.


First, the career record. In addition to the standard bowling average, look at the last two columns - the strike rate and the Wickets/Inns. I've made an arbitrary cut off of 100 wickets in result Tests (but have included Swann since he's so close with 98, and an important contemporary spin bowler), and 75 for Wins.


Compare Harbhajan Singh's record to that of his contemporaries - Warne, Kumble, Muralitharan, Vettori, Saqlain, Mushtaq (more a 90s man than a 2000s one), and his Indian predecessors (Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna). Also compare wrist spinners (Muralitharan, Warne, Kumble, MacGill, Kaneria, Chandrasekhar, Benaud, Mushtaq, O'Reilly, Grimmett) to the finger spinners (Bhajji, Vettori, Gibbs, Bedi, Prasanna, Saqlain, Tayfield, Laker etc.)

Now look at the Wins Table. There is much to see in these tables, but a few things stand out, Muralitharan stands out head and shoulders above the rest - a freak performer, the Bradman of Spin Bowling. But Harbhajan Singh does not compare unfavorably to Shane Warne does he? Very similar strike rate, average and very similar number of wickets per innings. He doesn't compare unfavorably to most bowlers in that list. There are two ways to interpret this. First, you could argue that Warne's record shows that he did it on a larger percentage of occasions (92 out of 145) compared to Bhajji (40 out of 95) and hence, on a larger variety of wickets. Or, you could argue that similar performances by the two bowlers produced a different percentage of results due to different quality of support. Both have merit. Warne, as a wrist spinner and far more attacking and effective.

So what has happened in the last three years? Averages in general have gone up in Result tests, Bhajji's more than anybody else's. For the next three tables, keep in mind that the number of Tests are much smaller than in the career tables, and hence variations must be considered accordingly.

What has happened in Wins in the last three years? Bhajji's bowling average has gone up by 3 runs over his career bowling average in wins, and he's taking 5 extra balls for each wicket. A decline for sure. Consider the fact though that there have been very few rank turners that India has played on in the last 3 years, especially in India.

Now for my favorite statistic.

[Plum]

A look at players record against non-minnow opponents (Bangladesh or Zimbabwe have nobody as good as Chanderpaul or Sarwan or Gayle or even Ryder or Taylor in their ranks, let alone depth with the likes of Dwayne Bravo, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum)

Harbhajan Singh is a world class spin bowler. India's second best of all time (compare his record to the quartet from the 70s). He's had a longer career than most spin bowlers, has probably been analyzed more by oppositions than most of these spin bowlers, and remains a threat.


The five wicket hauls have dried up to some extent, but he's still getting wickets and contributing mightily to India's victories. Graeme Swann may have better numbers, but he's actually not been required to bowl in a couple of innings in Tests that England have won! What would Bhajji give for that kind of luxury. Swann has still taken fewer wickets per innings in Test wins than Bhajji has in the same period.


And this has been a time when Harbhajan Singh has been considered to be in decline, while Swann, to be on top of his game.


Harbhajan Singh is one hell of a bowler. It is impossible to conclude otherwise from these numbers. Even if you don't think that "good bowling" can be identified by setting aside returns, you can't argue with these numbers.

[Plum]

Some stats and points that opens the eyes of Bhajii haters:

The five wicket hauls have dried up to some extent, but he's still getting wickets and contributing mightily to India's victories. Graeme Swann may have better numbers, but he's actually not been required to bowl in a couple of innings in Tests that England have won! What would Bhajji give for that kind of luxury. Swann has still taken fewer wickets per innings in Test wins than Bhajji has in the same period.


And this has been a time when Harbhajan Singh has been considered to be in decline, while Swann, to be on top of his game.


Harbhajan Singh is one hell of a bowler. It is impossible to conclude otherwise from these numbers. Even if you don't think that "good bowling" can be identified by setting aside returns, you can't argue with these numbers.

Harbhajan Singh is a world class spin bowler. India's second best of all time (compare his record to the quartet from the 70s)

[ajaybaskar]

An article that may interest Plum

[Plum]

Ajay, look at the previous posts. My eyes are opened. Harbhajan is the second best spinner ever for India - and is better than Bedi, Prasanna and Chandrasekar. Venkatraghavan comes nowhere near. I am not going to question his position anymore.