With Kumble, Harbhajan formed one of the most successful partnerships - in the 54 Tests they played together, they claimed 501 wickets and helped India to 21 victories. That is a terrific record.

Yet Harbhajan did not bowl in Chennai like a bowler with over 300 wickets in his bag. Traditionally English batsmen, unlike the Australians, have played offspin better than they have legspin. This, far from acting as a spur to the main spinner seems to have discouraged him, and the focus has been on keeping down the runs.

When the teams reassemble for the Mohali Test on Friday, they might decide to replace a spinner with a medium pacer if the track promises more for the seamer. Ironically, the respective spinners heading for the chopping block then might be the two leading men – India’s Harbhajan and England’s Monty Panesar. Both spinners seemed to forget in Chennai that they were in the team to take wickets, not just to keep down the runs.

Spin bowling is about taking chances, about challenging the batsman into making mistakes, drawing them forward to drive the ball that doesn’t get there or tricking them into misreading the spin. Harbhajan’s predictability does not augur well for the Indian team. He is an attacking bowler by temperament and technique. And he needs to rediscover the touch that has made him so successful so far. He is the country’s number one spinner - he must bowl like one.

I think asking a 28 year old to become a mentor as asking a bit too much irrespective of the number of international wickets he may have got. Given Harby's personality, he should be given the freedom to be India's premier spiiner and thee role of mentoring should be bestowed upon him in about 5 years. Yes he bowled a flat line at Chennai, but It doesnt realy matter. With spin bowlers you can't really judge their form from one test match. You need a a minimum of 7-8 test match performances to judge their skill and ability. Bhajju's still got it. Frankly, this issue is not even a talking point in my opinion.

I totally agree, Harbhajan does have immense skill, and right now he is just about India's best spinner based on his experience and skill alone. And it is also true that he seems to be choking at the moment.

But after all that's said and done, I strongly believe that he, just like Dravid, will only come back stronger then ever. It's a matter of time, and I can't wait!

it is not true that harbhajan feeling a pressure of brst spinner in side harbhajan is a very good player and he always play for the country he always do,well with his bowling if not by bowling then he contribute through his batting to the teams total and in chennai test up to some extent harbhajan saves the test for india by contributing handy 40 runs in the first inning

Oh yes that makes the sense, the most badly behaved person in the sport is the perfect mentor for India's new breed of aggressive spin bowlers.

"Yet Harbhajan did not bowl in Chennai like a bowler with over 300 wickets in his bag"

There is another bowler who does not bowl like he has 300 wickets, Brett Lee, so he's just as good/bad as Harbhajan in that respect. But there can hardly be a bigger contrast to their personalities. Brett Lee, now there's someone you would to see mentoring a fast bowling attack!

Whilst I concur that Harbhajan needs to adopt greater responsibility within the side, I find it laughable that you could even consider him for the captaincy. Sure, he may demonstrate (on occasion) the fighting qualities of a Ganguly, but two minutes later one would think Sreesanth has possessed his body - ironic given the slapping incident in the IPL.

Fact is, he could not handle the pressure. If he cannot manage to remain dignified when bowling or batting against the Australians, how could he do so juggling the top job also? The old defence of 'they sledge worse' will not wash as a captain.

Excellent post..... Harbhajan is not even the best off spinner in the country. I feel Sehwag is a much better off-spinner, only his doosra makes him better than Sehwag. But to every one's surprise he is not using the doosra all that often. I would say, if India are to be the No.1 team in the world, then they have to part ways with this mediocre bowler in Harbhajan singh, and get a more aggressive one, be it a changed Harbhajan or some body like Piyush Chawla (who always looks to pick up wickets).

It might be difficult for Harbhajan to play the role Kumble handled so admirably over the last decade. He does not have the ability, the mental strength, the composure or the respect that Kumble had. Harbhajan is very effective in ODIs, the same is not true in Test match cricket. The fact is - Harbhajan is a good bowler. He is not and will never be a great bowler.

Give Bhajji a break!!He's the 2nd highest wicket taker in 2008 and you want him dropped for a rare failure in one test?You must be a fickle mided person and perhaps you dont belive in a thing called recent form.

I think Mr. Suresh Menon needs to take a break. Your mind is working overtime on non-existant demons as regards to the Indian team. Harbhajan has proved he has value in the third and fourth innings, where a finger spinner really comes to the fore. This test match, Strauss and Colly played blinders, by cutting down the drives and sticking to working him square. To his credit, he applied the brake consistently and proved to be a vital factor in the larger scheme of things.

This 'mentor' business is all wrong. Prasanna made his debut in '62, Bedi in '67, Chandrasekhar in '65 and Venkat also in 65. There was no one menting the other. Each one played as an equal and was unique in his own way. Harbhajan may have taken more wickets than Gibbs in a lesser number of Tests.But it is the span of their careers which bears eloquent testimony of their levels of skills and deception. Harbhajan's greatest was in the series against Australia in 2001. He has never been the same at any time after that. That is because he does not rely enough on beating batsmen with flight and drift, such a noticeable art in Prasanna and even in Sehwag. I feel he should be dropped for the Mohali match and Ojha brought in. In fact Ojha flights the ball very well and could make a big difference considering how gingerly the current batch of English players are playing even Yuvraj. The final decision should be based on the type of wicket on offer. Harbhajan should take a break and practise.

I am no expert. Yet, as an avid cricket fan, this is my observation on Harbhajan's bowling. He is a great finger spinner. But, if I were the coach, I would say this to him. Slow down your run up. You are getting to the bowling crease way too fast. Your momentum is adding to the speed of the ball. Watch Prasanna's video, or even Bedi's. Both finger spinners. They were slow in their run up. Which helped them decide they pace at which they wished the ball to spin out of their hand. Loop the ball at not more than 80 kmph. Don't worry if you get hit for 6's. Vary your pace and length but never forget the loopy flight. Remember Shane Warne? Remember his 5 step run-up. Maybe you should cut your run-up by 2 steps. There is no earthly reason why you won't get wickets galore and end your careeer as the top off-spinner. Good Luck, Harbhajan.

Suresh, are you as foolish as you look? Please reply.

Yours truthfully ..... a fan.

I totally agree with the writer. It’s a great point to be discussed. In my opinion a person with over 300 test wickets should be in a position to mentor youngster in his department the way Zaheer is doing, which is very impressive. I never saw any Indian fast bowler doing that before, coming back to Harbhajan Singh it is very sad he is not able to do that but its only matter of time. I feel that he takes pressure at times and go defensive and let’s not forget there is lot of young talent waiting with their one foot already in. especially in bowling department.

Harbhajan can't mentor anybody , he's an aggressive [or slightly arrogant] by nature. You need to have compassion towards your colleague to step into mentoring role. If he had that , he woudn't have ridiculed of all the people Dravid [Asking him to come and bowl when he dropped a catch] ,nor he would have slapped Sreesanth.

There is a distressing tendency in many of us to be overawed by the overall lifetime achievements of a player eg, Bhajji, Dravid etc as opposed to what they have been doing in the more recent matches. If Dravid, for example were to make another series of low scores , he still wd have a colossal lifetime average and his legion of defenders.

Harbhajan must be close to the top of 2 lists-
1)Most over-rated bowlers in cricket
2)Worst bowlers to have taken 300 test wickets
Harbhajan is a very good bad pitch bowler,that's all.He gets all his wickets from top spinners and supposedly "legal" doosras. Sehwag has a better off spinner than him and an even better,classical action.Just ask Bishan Bedi.

This is ridiculous to talk about Bhajji like this. How could you drop someone who contributes to invaluable lower order runs as well as bowling well? How can you compare Harbhajan with Monty Panesar? Monty can't field, can't bat. Harbhajan is way better. This is a ridiculous article. Also, ridiculous is the fact that Harbhajan could be a captain. His personality doesn't suit the role of captaincy or vice-captaincy.

I definitely think either Harbhajan is over-rated or we are all spoiled by greatest trio murali/warne/kumble. I wonder if there would ever be greatest match winners who won matches single-handedly.
Bhajji for sure except couple of series, never won a match/series single-handedly. If you notice the trio, warne and kumble are really good thinkers and murali has exceptional skill plus hard work.
Bhajji has neither of those qualities and his brain is questionable.

I just hope that bhajji's realises this or we are stuck with his hype for another few years.

Bhajjis an excellent bowler and one low performance shouldnt lead into people raising such questions on him.

If not for the dropped catches, Bhajji would have had a 5-for..So why not criticise the fielders first ?

To Bharath: Vettori does it constantly for New Zealand...

To OjOnam: but asking Dravid to bowl was too far...

I think Bhajji might not be in his best form but i still think he has a lot to contribute to Indian cricket. He still terrifies the Australians!!! Lets give him a few more matches and then judge his performance.

At an age of 28 Harbhajan has captured more wickets than Gibbs at age 38. If he plays at the same intensity for the next 10 years he has the chance to double that total. That is an excellent achievement by present day standard.Habhajan has done well in batting as well. So overall he deserves a place in any Indian side. Besides his intensity and winning spirit is unquestionable. All great bowlers have loses in their performance and I feel Harbhajan may be going thru' this trough.I think he will play in Mohali and Munaf may come in place of Mishra as the only change.

some one said Bhajji is the most overrated test bowler and worst bowler to take 300 wickets... I couldn't agree more with that gentleman..
spot on!!

Posted by: subramanian 19 hours, 15 minutes ago

Harbhajan must be close to the top of 2 lists-
1)Most over-rated bowlers in cricket
2)Worst bowlers to have taken 300 test wickets
Harbhajan is a very good bad pitch bowler,that's all.He gets all his wickets from top spinners and supposedly "legal" doosras. Sehwag has a better off spinner than him and an even better,classical action.Just ask Bishan Bedi.

Completely agree with this observation. Bhajji needs a kick up his behind and dropped so he can go back and play few domestic games. He is in the team for bowling. His batting is a bonus that is not mandatory. If he can drop his spoilt-brat personality and dedicate to better himself as a bowler/person, he can come back to the team. Ironic that none of us (Indians) can name another off spinner as an alternate choice. Kreja and Swann, both making their debuts out bowled, out smarted, and out shone (in his own back yard) this so called 300+ wickets bowler. What a shame.

Something that I have been noticing for more than a year or so is that Hrabhajan Singh is bowling too flat and faster through the air. May be he can do better if he bowls a bit slower & with a better loop. Spinners firing the ball in is normally associated with lack of confidence........ Perhaps that's what is Harbhajan going through too. He should stop worrying about wickets and try to bowl with a better loop. That might help

I am fascinated to read some of these comments comparing Sehwag with Harbhajan and can't stop myself on commenting on these commentators. Oh please go back and refresh your cricket I.Q. Had Harbhajan played for any other team like England or Australia he would have been called a great but he played for 10 years alongside Kumble a great great bowler and still managed more than 300 Test wickets. This is the greatness of Harbhajan Singh. He still has a long way to go and by the time he hang up his boots he should have passed 700 marks albeit form and age on his side. Sehwag is a part time bowler a very good option to be used as a side bowler but you can't compare a genuine off spinner and a part timer. Harbhajan is picking up wickets consistently in his last 3-4 series and is second this year in wickets tally just next to Steyn. Please refresh your knowledge before putting these comments.

It is sad to see that bhajji's flight and loop have gone far a vacation.These two are considered the two most important things even in gully cricket for an off-spinner.Bowling flat is not going to earn him any rewards.

Bhajji will be a different bowler this time.. in the Chennai test, India was on the backfoot(when compared to now) when he was bowling.