‘I play with my heart, for my country’ : Harbhajan Singh

[King Tendulkar]

So an indian player says he plays with heart for India and people are jumping up and down bashing that player. The mind boggles

[King Tendulkar]

Bhajji has been decent in the last 2 years of test cricket. His average in the last 18 tests is 30(away 24, home 33). That's exactly the problem. He's 'only' decent not spectacular. As the premier spinner in the country, we should have seen him step up and cause carnage in Kumble's absence but he just hasn't done that. All he seems to do is bowl well within himself and bowl without much thought or imagination. Bhajji in test cricket is like a sarkari karamchari who comes in at 9, sips chai, does a little work and leaves at 5 without really shining or contributing something significant.

I would say those stats are good without being very good or spectacular. Hardly squares up with the OTT stick he gets.

[kabira]

^nope, his home record in that case is abysmal. he shoudl be averaging in mid 20s at home as he loves SG balls

[spectre]

that's a astounding slap on spectre :cantstop:

Stop your regionalism crap and think wtf is he bowling these days along with his big sh1tty mouth there is an IPL forum on the other side for that

[Guest DeveGowda]

So an indian player says he plays with heart for India and people are jumping up and down bashing that player. The mind boggles

Do you seriously believe Him ? *I dont have anything against him personally...But i wont take his words Seriously...

[CSK Fan]

Why is there no thread on Mishra or the expressssssssssssssssssss super phassssst Ishant Sharm????

Bravo. Bhajji supporters have reached a new low I see. so if Laxman fails for a series of matches, we should just say that Rohit Sharma, Badri or Vijay failed in those matches too. What an insult will it be for a senior, class player like Laxman to compare him with these newocomers. Yet Bhajji is compared to giys who have played a handful of tests and a 20 year old fast bowler

[King Tendulkar]

Do you seriously believe Him ? *I dont have anything against him personally...But i wont take his words Seriously...

What that he plays with his heart for India? Yes I do Or by your highlighting are you questioning he is Indian?

[Ranjha]

Bravo. Bhajji supporters have reached a new low I see. so if Laxman fails for a series of matches' date=' we should just say that Rohit Sharma, Badri or Vijay failed in those matches too. What an insult will it be for a senior, class player like Laxman to compare him with these newocomers. Yet Bhajji is compared to giys who have played a handful of tests and a 20 year old fast bowler[/quote'] The point is that some people here want Bhajji dropped whereas his replacement Mishra performed worse...There is no new low to be reached...Its simple logic..Its one thing to criticize a player for his performance, and one to bashign one player for personal hatred. If a player is good nuff to be in the team, they need to perform, whether seniors or juniors..or we should just call in the seniors like Kapil Dev, Ganguly etc back if only seniors are to be held responsible and juniors walk free without any responsibility.....

[King Tendulkar]

The point is that some people here want Bhajji dropped whereas his replacement Mishra performed worse...There is no new low to be reached........

Agree if you look at dropping player then look at replacements. So Mishra has to come under scruting as well. Can't just say o he is young and inexperienced so lets not worry. We are in job of winning test matches and have massive game coming up. No place to groom players for future. Besides Mishra has been around team for 1 and half years now and has not shown the spectacular results many seem to demand from an indian spinner

[Sachinism]

Too many bad vibes in this thread Lets talk about something fun, who saw Bhaji imitating Afridi's ball-eating actions during the last test?

[Guest DeveGowda]

Agree if you look at dropping player then look at replacements. So Mishra has to come under scruting as well. Can't just say o he is young and inexperienced so lets not worry. We are in job of winning test matches and have massive game coming up. No place to groom players for future. Besides Mishra has been around team for 1 and half years now and has not shown the spectacular results many seem to demand from an indian spinner

But how many matches mishra played ? if he got as opprotunity as bajjii..he will also give same or better results..

[CSK Fan]

The point is that some people here want Bhajji dropped whereas his replacement Mishra performed worse...There is no new low to be reached...Its simple logic..Its one thing to criticize a player for his performance' date=' and one to bashign one player for personal hatred. If a player is good nuff to be in the team, they need to perform, whether seniors or juniors..or we should just call in the seniors like Kapil Dev, Ganguly etc back if only seniors are to be held responsible and juniors walk free without any responsibility.....[/quote'] How many players have performed from day 1 in the team? In any team? Here's Mishra's performance after 8 matches 8 Matches 28 wickets, bowling average of 39 Here's Dale Steyn's 8 matches, 32 wickets, bowling average of 35.12 If we go by your logic, Steyn would never have remained in the team as Nel, Hall and Pollock were all bowling better than him in those matches. He would have been thrown out for the mediocre Hall and Nel and never realised his true potential

[Ranjha]

How many players have performed from day 1 in the team? In any team? Here's Mishra's performance after 8 matches 8 Matches 28 wickets, bowling average of 39 Here's Dale Steyn's 8 matches, 32 wickets, bowling average of 35.12 If we go by your logic, Steyn would never have remained in the team as Nel, Hall and Pollock were all bowling better than him in those matches. He would have been thrown out for the mediocre Hall and Nel and never realised his true potential

You are once again missing the point. I never said Mishra shouldn't play. He is playing along side Bhajji but at this point of time, he is not as good as Bhajji so all this premature talk of dropping Bhajji is nonsense....drop him for who?

[punjabiplaya]

good point by my two cents

[Guest Hiten.]

U_S, KT et al can you guys providesome concrete proof where anyone who has criticized bhajji questioned his religion or the region he hails from ? Can you guys stop throwing victim card like the Pakis do every now and then ? If you guys are avid icfers then you'll realize that srt has numerous critics here but we never labelled them anti Brahmin or Marathi. Try answering the critics with chin up and by not labelling them regionalist.

[Ranjha]

U_S' date=' KT et al can you guys providesome concrete proof where anyone who has criticized bhajji questioned his religion or the region he hails from ? Can you guys stop throwing victim card like the Pakis do every now and then ? If you guys are avid icfers then you'll realize that srt has numerous critics here but we never labelled them anti Brahmin or Marathi. Try answering the critics with chin up and by not labelling them regionalist.[/quote'] Hey blue-brigade..There was a comment made by a poster in this thread (dont remember his name now) where he said something to the sort of Bhajji stops using his brain after 12 and starts using his heart to which under_Score replied .That remark was based on harbhajan's religion and IS CERTAINLY A DIRECT CRITICISM OF BHAJJI BASED ON HIS RELIGION .Those posts have been removed by the mod. So try understanding the full story before joining the bandwagon. My humble request.

[cowboysfan]

bhajji is not kumble.Bhajji needs specefic kinds of wicket to be effective(especially in the 1st innings).he is also easily rattled nowadays.he changes his length if he is attacked.this might be the effect of too much limited overs cricket.

[gult]

People are being harsh on Bhajji. He has done reasonably well and had he got a chance to bowl in the second innings, his figures would've looked much decent. And please don't compare him to Harris. One match doesn't prove anything. Everything has gone wrong in the 1st test, not just our bowling.

[CSK Fan]

You are once again missing the point. I never said Mishra shouldn't play. He is playing along side Bhajji but at this point of time' date=' he is not as good as Bhajji so all this premature talk of dropping Bhajji is nonsense....drop him for who?[/quote'] When Ramesh Powar was bowling with Bhajji, he would match Bhajji's figures and sometimes outbowl him. Same with other spinners we have tried. Its always the newcomers like Ojha who are dropped and Bhajji remained despite them having similar figures. And what was the result? We are exactly where we were after Kumble retired. We could have so easily groomed someone by giving his more chnaces. Bhajji's absence wouldnt have made a difference

[CSK Fan]

People are being harsh on Bhajji. He has done reasonably well and had he got a chance to bowl in the second innings' date=' his figures would've looked much decent. And please don't compare him to Harris. One match doesn't prove anything. Everything has gone wrong in the 1st test, not just our bowling.[/quote'] Harris is placed above Bhajji in the ICC ranking. Do you think its because of one match?