It was a day of double celebration for Harbhajan Singh. Not only did he lift the 2012-13 Irani Cup title captaining the Rest of India side, the off-spinner has also made it back to India’s Test squad, for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy beginning later this month.
Harbhajan interacted with the media after ROI took the Irani Cup title on the basis of the first-innings lead, against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. He was delighted to be back with the national team and insisted that he “can make a difference there”.
"Comebacks are always tough. As long as you continue to work hard and believe you can make a difference and do well in international cricket, you can make a comeback,” Harbhajan said.
The feisty offie is keen to play against his favourite opposition to regain his mojo. "It's always nice to play against Australia. They have a pretty new batting line-up. If I am not wrong they have a lot of left-handers who have not played much Test cricket in India.
"This would be a challenging series for them and hopefully we will put them under pressure from the first day of the Test match,” Harbhajan made his intentions clear.
Talking about his history with the Australian Test team, Harbhajan remembered his phenomenal performance against them in 2001 when he ran through the world’s No.1 team with 32 wickets in the series, including a Test hat-trick. He said the current Indian bowling attack has what it takes to repeat history.
“When I played my first series against Australia (2001-02), I was a no one. All I can say is we have a quality attack to win this Test series for India. If we are able to do that, it will be a great thing. We are looking forward to this series and hopefully we would do well as a bowling unit."
Senior Men, Domestic,
Harbhajan Singh’s comeback into the Test team has come despite a modest Ranji Trophy with the ball. However, the veteran spinner is happy with the way he has been working on his game.
"When you are playing Ranji Trophy constantly sometimes you may take wickets and sometimes you may not. But I have been working very hard on my game and trying to give everything I have every day.
"A new day gives you a new opportunity. That's what I have kept telling myself that I am still good enough to play for India and that's the reason I have been playing cricket,” he said.
