Does Harbhajan prefer to play at home?

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Injured in the course of the disastrous Trent Bridge Test early this week, Harbhajan Singh has been replaced for the remainder of the England Test tour.

While injuries are a problem Team India have had an excess of recently, what is peculiar in the case of India’s top spin bowler is there is a pattern to his pulling out of tours when the going gets tough.

This is not the first occasion on which Bhajji has come off a tour midway. He did the same from Sri Lanka last year when Team India were in some danger of losing their top Test status if they were to be defeated in the final Test at the Tamil Union.

He had taken two wickets for 304 runs in two Tests in Galle and at the SSC before he packed his bags. That is when Amit Mishra stepped up and won the Test for India.

Figures of 1/218 runs at Lord’s and 1/69 at Trent Bridge, betray the fact Bhajji has been balking at bowling in conditions unhelpful to spin bowlers in England this summer. With 406 Test wickets, Bhajji is India’s leading wicket taker among current bowlers.

He played a leading hand in two triumphs over South Africa in Kolkata and Durban recently and also lent a hand in other wins for the top rated side.

It has, however, been apparent to onlookers that he has been increasingly dependent on home conditions that are helpful to spin for success. To say the least, Bhajji does not feel comfortable about bowling at leading teams except at home.

His contribution in the new millennium and to India’s rise as a Test and ODI team has been phenomenal. However, it is also clear Bhajji has been struggling to sustain his image as a match-winning bowler in the last couple of seasons.

Since the beginning of 2010, he has taken 63 wickets in 18 Tests — of them 31 wickets for 1,074 runs in seven Tests at home — which actually shows declining returns from a top class performer who is an automatic pick as first spinner.

Abroad, his figures in the same period have been 32 wickets for 1,437 runs in 11 Tests.

An injured Bhajji may return to Test matches in time to take on the West Indies on home pitches this season. But given his record in Australia when he returned injured from the tour in 2003-04 (after taking 1 wicket for 169 in Brisbane) and returned figures of eight wickets for 490 runs in three Tests in 2007-08, it is a fair call he would not be comfortable touring Down Under later in the year where India are to face the former world No. 1 Test and ODI side.

It is ironical that Bhajji returns home now with a grade 1 abdominal strain just when he can expect slightly more helpful conditions for spin bowling in Edgbaston and the Oval as the English summer progresses.

But, given his record, his early return may have been predicted.