Celebrated India off-spinner Harbhajan
Singh on Friday hanged his boots from all forms of cricket. He last played for
India six years back against South Africa in an ODI at Wankhede, Mumbai. In the
Indian Premier League (IPL), he played for Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super
Kings. Last year, he was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders. With this
announcement, he has formally announced his retirement from cricket. Apart from
playing IPL, Harbhajan Singh was busy with his commentary assignment in the
last six years. However, while making the announcement on Twitter, the
off-spinner didn’t reveal what he would do next.

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“All good things come to an end and today
as I bid adieu to the game that has given me everything in life, I would like
to thank everyone who made this 23-year-long journey beautiful and memorable,”
Harbhajan wrote on Twitter.

Harbhajan’s persona had as much impact as
his off-spin bowling which is a compliment to the temperamental Indian hailing
from the aggressive Ludhiana region of Punjab. In his teens, he was thrown out
of the National Cricket Academy due to indiscipline. But his skills were his
biggest asset and nobody could say no to him for his abilities to bamboozle the
batters. He got the famed nickname ‘turbanator’ for his uncanny ability to spin
the ball.

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Roar
at Eden Gardens

He had a rather forgetful debut in 1998
against Australia at Chepauk, Chennai. It seemed he was going to make nowhere
in Indian cricket. But Sourav Ganguly, India’s captain between 2000 and 2005,
was an avid admirer of the rookie Sardar. Harbhajan rode on the support and
proved to his captain that he was right in his judgment. During the historic
2001 home Test series against Australia, Harbhajan emerged as India’s biggest
asset against the haughty Aussies. He finished the series with 32 wickets in
three Tests, including a hat-trick which was the first by an Indian. His
victims were legendry Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne at the Eden
Gardens.

With this remarkable performance against an
invincible Australian side, Harbhajan cemented his place in the Indian team.
This was during a time when Anil Kumble was at the peak of his form and in the
coming years, Harbhajan formed a lethal spin duo with his senior partner, at
times he even outshone the veteran.

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Outshone
Anil Kumble

Due to his better attacking prowess with
the bat and arguably better limited-overs approach, Harbhajan soon overtook
Kumble in ODIs as the lead spinner of the side. In Tests though, Kumble still
was the main man although he did have to fight a battle of his own. Once Kumble
retired, the onus was on Harbhajan to carry the flag of spin bowling forward in
the Indian team. He did have his moments, not only at home where he was a
strike force obviously but also played a good role in some of India’s famous
overseas Test wins.

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Losing
the track

Despite all this, there is no denying the
fact that Harbhajan’s career lost track once the IPL came into being. He was
also part of India’s 2007 World T20 winning team, but he lost that charm for
which he was cherished.

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Harbhajan lost that loop and flight which
makes a complete spinner with the arrival of T20 cricket, more frankly the IPL.
The trajectory had become considerably flatter which definitely made him a more
economical bowler but the wickets started to dry up. Statistically, he is
India’s second most successful off-spinner in Test cricket but he could have
achieved a lot more in the latter half of his career. Even though he wasn’t at
his best, he played a pivotal role in India’s 2011 World Cup glory. The 2010
and 2011 seasons were really torrid for Harbhajan and the emergence of
Ravichandran Ashwin meant that the former’s position was soon slipping away.

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Harbhajan Singh played 103 Tests and took
417 wickets at an average of 32.46. His tally was recently eclipsed by Ashwin
during the New Zealand series. In ODIs, Harbhajan took 269 wickets in 236
matches. In 28 T20Is, he could manage only 25 wickets.