A gritty fighter bounces back

COLOMBO, September 25, 2012



It was a return to the fold that was dwarfed by the enormous attention bestowed upon a team-mate, who had just made a stupendous recovery from a dangerous ailment. Yet when the lights were switched off at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Sunday night, Harbhajan Singh shone the brightest.



In fact a modest Yuvraj, whose epochal comeback from cancer, drew in all the focus lights, had repeatedly tweeted — "The Singhs are back" — ahead of the Twenty20 matches against New Zealand. But Harbhajan remained in the shadows. Much like how he was over the last one year during which R. Ashwin emerged as the nation's first-choice spinner.



The four for 12 spell that Harbhajan conjured to whip England into submission in the ICC World Twenty20 Group 'A' match, was the best by an Indian bowler in Twenty20 internationals. And the off-spinner couldn't have asked for a better show on his comeback as he probed away, slowed the pace a bit and allowed the ball to reveal its malicious intent.



Gone were the insecurities and the spearing of deliveries on a middle and leg-stump line with a flat trajectory that marred his spells and forced the selectors to wield the axe.



Whimsical shots



Harbhajan's cause was helped by the England batsmen too, who were tentative and sought to mask that deficiency under the guise of some whimsical shots. "Going (playing) straight was a much better option than going across the ball," England skipper Stuart Broad said.



Whatever be the approach that the rival batsmen adopted, there is no taking credit away from the manner in which Harbhajan plied his wares, given the context of his comeback. M.S. Dhoni highlighted that and said, "Even if he takes two wickets and gives away 24 runs that would have been a very good performance. He is someone who can do better than this but if you go by the circumstances, it was a brilliant performance."



A comeback hero is a great script and the obvious fallacy is to portray the subject as a wronged person, who suffered inequities before bouncing back. There was no such drama in Harbhajan's case except for the reality of poor form and an 'injury' during his jinxed England tour last year.



His two wickets at a strike-rate of 209 in the two Tests there was his nadir and the months preceding that was building up to that sore spot.



The loss in potency was visible in limited overs cricket too with the most glaring being his poor show while leading the Mumbai Indians in the last Indian Premier League. Harbhajan claimed a mere six wickets in 17 matches at an average of 64.00 and an economy rate of 7.11.



Unfortunately for Harbhajan, the only defining memory over the past two years was the two Test hundreds he scored against New Zealand.



The slow revival was engineered during his stint with Essex as the off-spinner claiming 24 wickets in ten matches (inclusive of both first-class and limited overs clashes). Thankfully he now seems to be living up to one of his favourite lines from motivational speaker Mike Horn: "Why look behind when the goal is ahead."



Harbhajan's emphatic return will test Dhoni's selection policies in the ensuing Super Eights but most importantly, a psychological blow has been delivered on England.



Imagine the nerves that will be coursing through the squad that will arrive in India for an extensive series involving four Tests, two Twenty20s and five ODIs from November! Ashwin in tandem with Harbhajan, with Pragyan Ojha in the wings, can be a daunting challenge.



It is a good thought to have on a Monday (Sept. 24) that marked the fifth anniversary of India's title triumph in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 at South Africa.
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