Indian cricket has had its Eureka moment. It has spotted the all-rounder it has been pining for since Kapil Dev hung up his bowling and batting boots a decade and a half ago. And Harbhajan Singh, the sardar of spin, is the man, the new Kapil Dev, or even the new Garfield Sobers as teammate Rahul Dravid put it.
For years the cry has been heard in the country, from the metros to the hinterland, that Indian cricket wants an all-rounder to emerge to give the team in every format the balance they look for. Here you have a man batting at number eight capable of not only a Test century but also the capacity to repeat the feat.
The irony may not have been lost on late order batting partner Sreesanth who helped India get well ahead. Was there a fear in his eyes that his partner would lose his cool and even slap him mid-pitch if he did not keep him company? History is an awkward master, however hard people try to bury it.
Bhajji is like that. He comes through as the whole goods, warts and all. His batting reflects his outgoing personality. A wild swish one moment and a cultured cover drive the next. An expansive spank for six now and then but never a thought to let that one outside the off stump go. No, he must have a go at it almost every time. What Bhajji allows us to celebrate is the fact that Indian cricket can give back after having gifted so many runs to late-order batsmen around the cricket world for years on end.
Records like the first man in history to score back-to-back hundreds at number eight do sound impressive. The fact is he is so fiercely competitive that you could have expected this of Bhajji who might have got enlightened about his batting prowess after the first innings of 69 in the first Test. But those who carp will point out that his main job is to bowl.
Well aware of what could happen if he makes way for another off-spinner competing for his place, Bhajji is said to be supremely protective of his place as well as his equation with his skipper Dhoni. It’s sufficient to say an offie will have to grab his place, it won’t be gifted to him so long as Bhajji is around.
What he has done in two weeks is to tear up the record books that showed no Indian specialist spinner had made Test hundreds. Of course, we do exclude the all-rounders like Salim Durrani and Ravi Shastri here, although Salim was probably the one who was good enough to play in the team just as a spinner.
The Bradmanesque average of 147.5 from three innings may not last long beyond the series against a hapless bowling side like New Zealand that has just the seam-hitter Chris Martin and the steady but never overwhelming Vettori to contend with in batsmen-friendly conditions. Even so, what we will have left is a late-order batting weapon in all forms of the game.
The batting bunny may have been extinct long ago. Given the intensity of modern training and the exposure in international matches, the non-batsman is no more a part of the landscape.
As the leading wicket taker among those currently playing Test cricket, Bhajji has a certain reputation to preserve or enhance. Don’t for a minute imagine that he bothers less about his bowling now.