Harbhajan is now Officially Unbowlable

[jusarrived]

You come up with that same **** every ****ing time. O he has 350+ test wickets and he is our 3rd highest wicket taker' date=' and oh he's number this in the ICC rankings. Who gives a ****? For the past few years, apart from an odd test match here and there, sardarji has been a ****ing pedestrian in all of the other matches ( can't field, can't take wickets, and can't bat).[/quote'] Danish Kaneria will have more wickets than him once he has played the same amount of matches , thast how good he is :haha:

[Fontaine]

He is out top wicket taker in tests for 2008 and 2009! So you ask what he has done in last few years and now I give you the uncomfortable truth!

This is such nonsense. Over the past three years OFCOURSE Bhajji is the top wicket taker in tests for India because he's also bowled the MOST overs. Here's a list of India's regular test match bowlers since 2007: http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;spanmin1=15+Mar+2007;spanval1=span;team=6;template=results;type=bowling As you can see Bhajji has bowled nearly 1500 overs. That's almost 500 more than the next guy Zaheer even though he's ONLY taken 10 more wickets in those extra 500 overs than Zaheer! It's pretty clear to anyone with the least bit of sense that Bhajji has gotten the benefit of the doubt constantly by getting all of those overs not because he's been such a great bowler the past year (35 Average, Strike Rate: 73) but because there hasn't been another spinner who has seized the opportunity since Kumble retired. Quantity DOES NOT equal Quality.

[Fontaine]

So basically you say he got wickets cos he bowled a lot. Are you really being that simplisitic?

Over those three years, Bhajji is averaging 35 with a strike rate of 73. Now you tell me who's simple minded?

[The Realist]

^^^ Totally agree. Fontaine on the money. Singh is the equivalent of a striker in a football team who ALWAYS starts and despite playing poorly all season manages to grab a few goals. This does not mean he is a top striker as his goals per game ratio is poor but simply that becaue of the position he plays he will always get chances and put away a few goals. Singh is the Julio Baptista of the cricket world - has had a couple of good seasons back in the distant past and has been living off them ever since.

[Fontaine]

I'm not saying that Bhajji sucks. I'm saying that he's not the proven match winner that some people constantly claim he is. Just like any other player he needs to justify his place on the team. Right now it's a matter of a real lack of other quality spin options rather than his own merit that secures his place. But that doesn't mean we just sit back and accept mediocrity from our spin bowling just like we don't accept mediocrity from our batting or fast bowling. Other spinners should get a genuine opportunity and run at the test side also. Who knows, maybe one of them might improve, whereas we already know Bhajji can't or won't.

[Jadoo]

Harbhajan could give this guy some serious competition if he decided to pursue a sport he seems naturally gifted at.

[SJS50]

Bhajji may still be our best spinner (although with each passing series this point is going to be more and more debated) but its clear now that India's spinning stocks (which include Harbhajan) are nowhere near what we have been used to for the last eight decades of our Test macth era. This is probably a great opportunity for the powers that be in Indian cricket to realise that we should now shun the emphasis on spinners, stop relying on slow, low tracks that breed boring cricket and are a death-knell for budding fast bowlers and go all hof to bring in a new era of fast and hard tracks with bounce. It should have been done long time ago but we kept using "our strength lies in spin" argument to refuse to do anything and the consequences are there for all to see. By all =indications, our bowling strength is very poor and likely to get worse with Zaheer fast approaching his "use by" date and no great spinners in sight. The fabulous batsmen are going to leave us in the next 2-3 years at most and we might as well start planning for a different era. An era based on a better mix of bowling attack and let our domestic cricket be played on tracks that are hard and quick. Let at least one Test in a two/three test series and two in a four/five Test series be played on the more pace friendly tracks and move up from there. It can be done. We are approaching a crisis in our cricketing life as a nation and we can best use the crisis to build rather than shove our heads in the sand.

[Jadoo]

Bhajji may still be our best spinner (although with each passing series this point is going to be more and more debated) but its clear now that India's spinning stocks (which include Harbhajan) are nowhere near what we have been used to for the last eight decades of our Test macth era. This is probably a great opportunity for the powers that be in Indian cricket to realise that we should now shun the emphasis on spinners, stop relying on slow, low tracks that breed boring cricket and are a death-knell for budding fast bowlers and go all hof to bring in a new era of fast and hard tracks with bounce. It should have been done long time ago but we kept using "our strength lies in spin" argument to refuse to do anything and the consequences are there for all to see. By all =indications, our bowling strength is very poor and likely to get worse with Zaheer fast approaching his "use by" date and no great spinners in sight. The fabulous batsmen are going to leave us in the next 2-3 years at most and we might as well start planning for a different era. An era based on a better mix of bowling attack and let our domestic cricket be played on tracks that are hard and quick. Let at least one Test in a two/three test series and two in a four/five Test series be played on the more pace friendly tracks and move up from there. It can be done. We are approaching a crisis in our cricketing life as a nation and we can best use the crisis to build rather than shove our heads in the sand.

Producing more sporty and bouncy tracks does not necessarily mean that we will produce bowlers that can bowl at 90mph and that can swing and seam the bowl. Like you said in your post, that our administrators have tried to produce tracks that plays to our suit of spin bowling, yet we are struggling to find a quality spin bowler who can walk into our playing 11.

[Guest BossBhai]

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[King Tendulkar]

So since 2008 Bhaji has the 3rd most test wickets in world cricket. Since 2008 he has the most wickets in tests for any spinner in the world. In my eyes tests are abouts how many runs you score and how many wickets you get. Bhaji is getting loads of wickets and thats fine by me. Judge him on these flat pancakes if you want, judge a spinner in what he does on day 1 of modern test pitch. Thankfully the selectors know a bit more about cricket then the internet experts and certainly wont axe on the basis of these pancakes. But yeah he is pants and only gets wickets cos he bowls a lot apparently!:((

[saneindian]

I seem to have a problem with CI statsguru. I am trying to see the number of runs scored in tests played by Bhajji in last 3-4 years. Can someone help? I have a feeling most top order batsmen (Indian and from the oppsition) would have a very healthy batting average in those tests. And then maybe we can run a comparison with the batting averages for batsmen playing tests played by Swann or even Murali to give us some idea about the kind of pitches these tests were played on.

[Laaloo]

So since 2008 Bhaji has the 3rd most test wickets in world cricket. Since 2008 he has the most wickets in tests for any spinner in the world. In my eyes tests are abouts how many runs you score and how many wickets you get. Bhaji is getting loads of wickets and thats fine by me. Judge him on these flat pancakes if you want, judge a spinner in what he does on day 1 of modern test pitch. Thankfully the selectors know a bit more about cricket then the internet experts and certainly wont axe on the basis of these pancakes. But yeah he is pants and only gets wickets cos he bowls a lot apparently!:((

The pitch at Galle was not a flatbed. It was assisting spinners to a great extent. What did the aggressive and fiery Sardar do?

[Guest BossBhai]

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[Ranjha]

lol at the idiots questioning bhajji.....go look at the pitch first.

[Ranjha]

The pitch at Galle was not a flatbed. It was assisting spinners to a great extent. What did the aggressive and fiery Sardar do?

We are playing two spinners. Let the other one outperform him completely before you think of replacing him..Sounds logical to me...does it to you?

[CSK Fan]

We are playing two spinners. Let the other one outperform him completely before you think of replacing him..Sounds logical to me...does it to you?

yes, why dont you compare Raina to Sachin too while you are about it?

[asterix]

Sehwag is not even a regular spinner and he has out-performed both spinners..Both spinners should die of shame..

[King Tendulkar]

yes' date=' why dont you compare Raina to Sachin too while you are about it?[/quote'] Or compare raina to laxman and dravid:giggle:

[f.b.m]

Surprising that not many people mention this but it really sucks how after 12-13 years of international cricket, a bowler only really performs with the SG ball apart from the rare good overseas performance. Its a bit like what Shane Warne said about Panesar about playing the same test 30 times except here its added with a complete dependence on the pitch and its over 80 matches! Its also quite depressing to see this:

"Harbhajan is doing a lot of the basics wrong," says spin legend Erapalli Prasanna, "He is simply not turning the ball enough. A spinner needs to turn the ball or he is useless. He is also too used to the SG ball's upraised seam to get turn and the Kookaburra gives him trouble. Harbhajan needs help. The present BCCI regime has not done much for spinners either. Under Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI had a spin wing which produced many of today's spinners like Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla. Now a majority of off-spinners are called for chucking. Indian spin is rudderless. There has been no nurturing, much as the West Indies messed up with their fast bowling tradition."

Link But hey, we're all 'haters' so what do we know...

[Sooda]

^ Thats a good article fbm This is interesting from Murali- Muralitharan agrees, though he says Harbhajan the bower should never be discounted. "There is a reason why I back him. If you look around, he is the best. He bowls with a lot of heart, he has fierce commitment, he has the variations too. Often in flat conditions he has struggled, at home and also away, but that is because your board (BCCI) doesn't back him enough. If your strength is Harbhajan, why are you creating flat wickets? I got tremendous support at home from the system. At least let him win matches at home for you." Well said, our spinners can win us matches at home. Its not like the pitches in india aid swing for longer then a few sessions on day one. And very few other teams have good enough spinners to bowl us out. for some reason however spinning wickets are inevitably deemed not good enough...