Harbhajan Singh appreciation thread

[Gambit]

His test bowling is $hit, his ODI bowling is mediocre but the strength of his character is immense. Most would have wilted after the media and fan abuse and hounding but Bhajji copped it without a murmur and irritated them to no end. So poetic for him to get Matt the T.wat and Symmo in the first final and then affect both of their dismissals in the same over in the second final. Singh is truly king! :top:

[Zakhmi]

Bhajji beat the aussie team, media, fans, baiters, character assasination, poisonous directed vitriol, the law, the ICC, the CA, the charges, the penalties, the set up job, the latent racism, the taunts of thousands, the abuse, the psychological targetting...carried himself with total verve and defiance throughout...and with good humour too...and then got Ponting earlier in the tests and for his coup de grace, whooped Symonds and Haydens asses in the last two matches. The man is definitely the KING!!! Warrior par excellence!

Look at the way he enjoys...even after so many controversies...

[Captain of Bhangra]

The controversies, understandably, make those wickets and victories taste far more sweeter...

[Zakhmi]

We're despicable, says Harby HARBHAJAN Singh has branded Australian crowd behaviour "despicable" and claims he has nothing to apologise for over his behaviour in Sydney. more...

[Willow_on_fire]

And you seem to be upset that I criticize a player from your region . Goes to show your regional mentality ....

you seem very bitter about Bhajji...all other normal Indians know that Bhajji had balls to put up with sledging...to an extent that after BCCI backed him.... Aussies had to control all their sledging crap...which also killed their spirit....and you are still crying like a baby here...while Indian fans are enjoying India's victory. btw...r u upset bcoz Kumble was not picked over Bhajji....I think you smell of regionalism...bigtime..:haha:

[cochise]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23313751-5001023,00.html

Australia has never seen an Indian cricketer quite like Harbhajan. He not only handles controversy, he courts it and feeds off it like no Indian cricketer before him. Two years ago in Australia South Africa's Graeme Smith tried to take the pressure off his teammates by verbally attacking Australia in the hope they would focus on him and let his young players develop in the shade. It backfired horribly because Smith wilted under pressure and his side went down. But it has worked a treat - probably accidentally - for Harbhajan and India this summer as a host of promising young Indian players blossom in the bleachers while Harbhajan does a three- month impersonation of a human dart board. Yesterday at Brisbane airport, with a handful of television cameras trailing his every move, he sauntered through the main terminal like a rock star pretending to be feeling a little claustrophobic and seeking privacy but deep down loving it. When the bus doors closed behind him he sat down and cracked a tiny, satisfied smirk as if to say "sorry boys, not talkin' today". Harbhajan may be a reckless twit and a dangerous pot-stirrer but he has spirit and India are feeding off that spirit and are a more formidable side for it.

The Aussies have grudging admiration of Bhajji's guts...it would be fair to say they are astonished and so are Pontings men, as he turned it right back on them and they ended up wilting instead. And the human dartboard thing is not to be underestimated. He drew the psychological attacks to himself and shielded the younger members of the team by doing so.

[Dhondy]

Yes, give the guy a Padmashri, he won us the series by taking three wickets in two finals. No doubt he'll be selected in the Test team ahead of the likes of Ishant and Sreesanth. While the neanderthals among you who are advocating him, Piyush and the likes of Ojha for the Test team ahead of our match winning quicks, based on a form of game completely unrelated to Test cricket, receive their well deserved come uppance when SA murder us, I'll be guffawing into my phlegm streaked handkerchief for the umpteenth time, watching this idiot's bowling average climb to 50 and beyond. All the best, Bhajji. Good job pulling the wool over the eyes of undiscerning Indian fans and our cretinous selectors with your histrionics and soundbytes again. Me, I'll be back when I hear some sense in these parts.

[cochise]

I don't think he will be in the test team ahead of Ishant and Sreesanth. But Indian pitches will also require a spin attack. It will be interesting as to the selections they make (Ishant, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Pathan, Patel, Harbhajan, RP Singh, Chawla etc) I don't think Harbhajan is a shoo in at all. To appreciate his lifting of the side in this tournament and his personal fortitude and gutsy spirit in highly adverse circumstances, is not to jettison all objectivity as far as selections go. So far this tour, the selectors have done a good job. I see that continuing. SA are not going to murder us...other way around. Steady on there.

[Zakhmi]

Dhoni Sticks Up For `Michael Jackson`

"There was a time when it seemed 'Bhaji' was Michael Jackson here. It was always good to see him on the front page, it put pressure on him," Dhoni said. more...

[kumble_rocks]

you seem very bitter about Bhajji...all other normal Indians know that Bhajji had balls to put up with sledging...to an extent that after BCCI backed him.... Aussies had to control all their sledging crap...which also killed their spirit....and you are still crying like a baby here...while Indian fans are enjoying India's victory. btw...r u upset bcoz Kumble was not picked over Bhajji....I think you smell of regionalism...bigtime..:haha:

And you seem to have a special axe to grind against players from Karnataka especially Dravid and Kumble ! :finger: Goes to show your regional mentality . Fool , I never advocated Kumble for ODI player. I would rather that Piyush or Ramesh Powar be given more chance over this useless bowler . BTW, Do you even follow cricket ? Repeat after me, he is a mediocre bowler who succeeds once in a blue moon . Okay , that may be tad too harsh .He is an average ODI bowler at best and a mediocre test bowler. And his stats commiserates with my assessment.

[Bumper]

Given Sachin's & Kumble's backing, its almost certain that Bhajji will play in the upcoming test series. The fact that he won the Kolkatta test for us vs SA (in 2004), will be used to make a case for him. Methinks, we'll see one of Ishant/Sreesanth share the new ball with RPS.

[Mr. Wicket]

Yes, give the guy a Padmashri, he won us the series by taking three wickets in two finals. No doubt he'll be selected in the Test team ahead of the likes of Ishant and Sreesanth. While the neanderthals among you who are advocating him, Piyush and the likes of Ojha for the Test team ahead of our match winning quicks, based on a form of game completely unrelated to Test cricket, receive their well deserved come uppance when SA murder us, I'll be guffawing into my phlegm streaked handkerchief for the umpteenth time, watching this idiot's bowling average climb to 50 and beyond.

Agree. Two very different performances in different forms of the game that shouldn't be mixed up. I have no problem if he's the first pick spinner in ODIs, as his batting and fielding can also be quite handy in that form. But in tests, he was a liability in Australia and we won the only test where he sat out. As for the likes of Ojha and Chawla - Ojha's nowhere near ready, and Chawla, lest we forget, went wicketless in his last two f/c games which happened to be against the better Indian teams. Couldn't buy a wicket for UP against Saurashtra or Delhi in the Ranji semi or final, so the mere thought of picking him for tests is laughable. For the tests ahead, just make sure the wickets at Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Chennai have a bit in them for the quicks and then play a three prong attack at minimum from RP, Ishant, Zaheer, Sreesanth and Irfan depending on fitness.

[Feed]

I'm too tough for Aussies HARBHAJAN Singh fired a final insult at Australia by insisting he was mentally superior to the world champions and had clearly won the battle of the minds. More... I'm too tough for Aussies By Robert Craddock and Ben Dorries March 06, 2008 HARBHAJAN Singh fired a final volley at Australia by insisting he was mentally superior to the world champions and had clearly won the battle of the minds. As teammates likened the feisty Harbhajan to pop eccentric Michael "Wacko" Jackson, the delighted spinner flew out of Brisbane stirring the hornets' nest after having the last laugh in a summer of relentless controversy. World cricket's most controversial figure insisted crowd abuse and sledging from the Australians had backfired in spectacular fashion. "I was too mentally tough for the Australians," Harbhajan said. "I was proud of the way our team played and I believe we have the potential to be No.1 side in the world." Asked whether the explosive summer had affected him, Harbhajan retorted: "None of it bothered me. "There were a lot of unnecessary things spoken. It just made me stronger. I love challenges and though people were booing me, I tried to ignore it." Harbhajan left Brisbane after team officials attempted to bluff by claiming he had been smuggled out of the country early to avoid media scrutiny. He promised to return to Australia better than ever and claimed he had drawn strength from a revered Sikh saint, Guru Gobind Singh. "One Sikh is enough for 125,000 people," he said. As the whole of India luxuriated in the team's astonishing one-day finals whitewash of Australia, star Indian players vowed they would soon overtake Australia as the world's No.1 team. Skipper MS Dhoni, the poster boy of a new generation of Indian players, flew out insisting his team and Harbhajan in particular had been vilified and unfairly targeted in Australia. "(Harbhajan) became a Michael Jackson sort of personality," Dhoni said. "I don't know what will happen to the Australian media without Bhajji (Harbhajan). He was always there on the front page. "The more he was taken into these controversies, the more determined he was to perform, as skipper it's difficult to calm him down, he's an aggressive player and quite expressive on the field. "But he's the kind of player who fights hard. That's a quality and that's what character is all about. People might see he might have crossed the barrier but nothing was proved against him." As India's leading newspapers blared headlines that trumpeted India's "historic win", the recriminations started for Australia who admitted they had been outfoxed by their younger and more energetic rivals. Even skipper Ricky Ponting admitted the side would have to scour the country for new one-day stars to give the world champions more verve.

[flamy]

hm....bhajji is an obnoxious weed and now a dangerous pot-stirrer...

[flamy]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23313751-5001023,00.html The Aussies have grudging admiration of Bhajji's guts...it would be fair to say they are astonished and so are Pontings men, as he turned it right back on them and they ended up wilting instead. And the human dartboard thing is not to be underestimated. He drew the psychological attacks to himself and shielded the younger members of the team by doing so.

The crux of the matter and the reason for this thread right there. We appreciate bhajji for taking on the psychological attack and giving it right back. No doubt, the match players that Aussies are crumbled because of this. They played all the tricks they could muster up in one season of cricket and still could not stop the inevitable.

[Zakhmi]

I'm too tough for Aussies HARBHAJAN Singh fired a final volley at Australia by insisting he was mentally superior to the world champions and had clearly won the battle of the minds. World cricket's most controversial figure insisted crowd abuse and sledging from the Australians had backfired in spectacular fashion. "I was too mentally tough for the Australians," Harbhajan said. "I was proud of the way our team played and I believe we have the potential to be No.1 side in the world." Asked whether the explosive summer had affected him, Harbhajan retorted: "None of it bothered me. "There were a lot of unnecessary things spoken. It just made me stronger. I love challenges and though people were booing me, I tried to ignore it." He promised to return to Australia better than ever and claimed he had drawn strength from a revered Sikh saint, Guru Gobind Singh. "One Sikh is enough for 125,000 people," he said. more...

[kumble_rocks]

One Sikh is enough for 125,000 people

Disgusting comments by Harbhy...

[Zakhmi]

Disgusting comments by Harbhy...

In one way, he wanted to show his confidence. In the other context, he should refrain from giving such statements publicly.

[Mr. Wicket]

Good grief. Yes, you did very well to handle the pressure and verbals in Aus and produce two good displays in the finals, but now shut the f&ck up and worry about getting that test average down below 30.

[flamy]

He has earned the right to show off. Atleast for the next week and a half. Respect!