Look out Australia: Harbhajan is back
Columnist By Kersi Meher-Homji, 25 Sep 2012 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Harbhajan Singh, india cricket, T20
South Africa's Hashim Amla, left, looks on as India's Harbhajan Singh celebrates. AP Photo/Bikas Das
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Just as Australian batsmen heaved a sigh of relief that India’s off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was out of the Indian team, he comes back with stunning figures of 4 overs, 2 maidens, 12 runs, 4 wickets against England in the ICC World T20 on Sunday night.
This helped India to thrash the highly-fancied England by 90 runs with Man of the Match, Harbhajan, salivating at the chance of niggling Australia – his pet hate – in a Super Eights match on Saturday.
Along with batsmen, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan has been behind India’s stunning Test wins over Australia home and away in the 2000s. This trio contributed as much to Australia falling from supreme to mediocre as did Englishmen Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Graeme Swann and Alastair Cook.
In the current World T20, India had an unimpressive win over Afghanistan but came back with a vengeance with an emphatic victory over England, as if chanting, “Fee-fi-fo-fum, I can smell the blood of an Englishman!”
Australians on the other hand had easy wins over ‘giant-killers’ Ireland and champion material West Indies.
What I cannot understand is how come winners of Group A and Group B meet each other in Super Eights.
Shouldn’t the winner in Group A meet the number 2 in Group B? And shouldn’t the winner in Group B meet the number 2 in Group A?
By this sensible criterion, India should have met West Indies and Australia should have met England. Otherwise, what’s the point of winning both matches in one’s group?
Can Roar readers explain, please.
The organisers have gone by the original “seeding” where England was seeded no. 1 in Group A and India no.2. Same is the case in Group B.
Thus, India’s win over England on Sunday night had no meaning.
Not that it matters but the logicality of this system seems faulty.
So how will the far-from-friendly rivals Australia and India go on Saturday? So far, Shane Watson has performed very well with both bat and ball in the two games, scoring 51 and an unbeaten 41, and taking 3 for 26 and 2 for 29.
Fast bowler, Mitchell Starc, has been equally impressive with the ball, grabbing 2 for 20 and 3 for 35. His partner in pace, teenager Pat Cummins, also from NSW, has been very disappointing.
For India, Virat Kohli has been consistent, scoring 50 and 40, while Rohit Sharma contributed an unbeaten 55 against England. Harbhajan gave a match-winning performance against England as stated before.
He keeps his best against Australia so it would be worth staying awake from Sunday midnight (EST) onwards to await the outcome of the tussle.
It is not a knock-out match, as both Australia and India will play two more matches before the semi-finals start on October 4.
Kersi is an author of 13 cricket books including The Waugh Twins, Cricket's Great All-rounders,Six Appeal and Nervous Nineties. He writes regularly for Inside Cricket and other publications. He has recently finished his new book on Cricket's Conflicts and Controversies, with a foreword by Greg Chappell.
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The Crowd Says (16) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Harbhajan Singh, india cricket, T20
September 25th 2012 @ 7:18am
Atawhai Drive said | September 25th 2012 @ 7:18am | Report comment
Ho hum. Wake me when it’s over.
September 25th 2012 @ 7:30am
Rabbitz said | September 25th 2012 @ 7:30am | Report comment
Unfortunately I am with you on this one Atawhai.
September 25th 2012 @ 9:40am
Jay said | September 25th 2012 @ 9:40am | Report comment
Kersi – I can’t see Harbhajan breaking back into the Indian test squad with Onjha and Ashwin infornt of him and performing well enough to retain their spots. But then again, Indian selectors do like giving a hand to the old timers and giving them a go to break a record, which in case may be 400 test scalps?
September 25th 2012 @ 10:06am
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 25th 2012 @ 10:06am | Report comment
Jay,
Ojha and Ashwin are younger than Harbhajan but not necessarily better. Also Harbhajan has that “killer” instinct others lack. He goes too far but his absence was sorely felt during India’s pathetic performance in Australia last season.
September 25th 2012 @ 10:20am
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 25th 2012 @ 10:20am | Report comment
Atawhai Drive and Rabbitz,
I am not much of a T20 fan, but face it, it’s an international event.
We in Australia get madly interested when suburbs play suburbs in Rugby League. And Australia comes to a stop when Grand Finals are played between city teams (Melbourne and Sydney) in NRL and AFL, as on this weekend. But for an international event like World T20 cricket we say, “Ho hum. Wake me when it’s over.”
The media is mostly to blame.
An international event like the Davis Cup between Australia and Germany a few days ago was given much less space than NRL suburban matches in our newspapers.
What’s wrong with us? About time we grow up and realise that there are other countries apart from Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa.
September 25th 2012 @ 11:19am
Matt F said | September 25th 2012 @ 11:19am | Report comment
I think you answered your own question with “I am not much of a T20 fan.” It’s all well and good to talk about it being a global competition but what good is that if it’s a sport, or in this case format of a sport, that some people don’t enjoy watching?
I don’t like the sports that I do because of their global reach, or lack of global reach depending on the sport. I like them because, for various reasons, I enjoy watching them. I don’t like Aussie Rules because it’s only played in Australia and I don’t like football because it’s “The World Game.” I like them because, for some reason, I find them both entertaining. The same goes for a variety of sports (Rugby League, tennis, all 3 cricket formats etc)
September 25th 2012 @ 12:34pm
Atawhai Drive said | September 25th 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Hi Kersi
As it happens, I enjoy Twenty20 cricket, as an entrée to the main course of Test cricket. I prefer T20 to the now rather stodgy dessert of one-day cricket. I remember being excited when T20 made its Australian debut about seven years ago, much to the bemusement of much younger work colleagues. T20 does seem to have passed from its youthful pioneering days to jaded decadence in an unusually short period of time, but I still quite like it.
But there’s too much of it. Far too much. And I’m in the Ian Chappell camp in thinking that there is no good reason for T20 to be played at international level. International cricket implies a serious level of competition that spectators and TV viewers should care about. But this is a form of cricket in which Brad Hogg, aged 41, is considered worthy of selection in a national team. I have no argument with Hoggy topping up his super by bowling four overs here and there, but don’t ask me to take it seriously. One argument against T20, at any level, is that the result is scarcely relevant _ entertainment is all.
My tastes in sport owe little to parochial concerns. I’m only an occasional watcher of the AFL and NRL these days, preferring Test match rugby (whoever’s playing), Test cricket (ditto), the A-League and some overseas football (especially now that QPR are back in the EPL), and motorcycle speedway. Thanks to Setanta I’ve discovered the joys of Gaelic football and hurling.
Last but not least, anything you write is worth reading. So although I’m not that interested in the T20 World Cup, thanks for keeping us all informed.
September 25th 2012 @ 1:05pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 25th 2012 @ 1:05pm | Report comment
Thank you for the compliment, Atawhai Drive.
And Matt F thanks for the explanation of the current World T20 format. But Matt, monsoon season is June to August in India. I presume it is the same in Sri Lanka.
September 25th 2012 @ 2:47pm
Matt F said | September 25th 2012 @ 2:47pm | Report comment
Sri Lanka has 2 monsoon seasons which effect different parts of the country (one hits the south-west and the other hits the north-east.) In between these monsoon seasons they have inter-monsoon seasons where it basically rains everywhere. October-November is when rainfall is at its highest, particularly in the SW (where Colombo is.) Good information is in the link below
http://www.meteo.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106&Itemid=81&lang=en
According to the ICC it had to be in October because there was no other gap in the calendar but you then have to question why they chose Sri Lanka as host. They should have played the matches in the morning to avoid the rain as much as possible though I guess that conflicts with TV.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka has only ever hosted one international series in October since it was granted full status in 1982, supposedly because of the weather at the time.
September 25th 2012 @ 3:11pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 25th 2012 @ 3:11pm | Report comment
Thank you, Matt F for the weather info in SL.
I remember touring SL in September 1999 and the weather was glorious. No rain in two weeks as I watched the tri-nation series between SL, Australia and India. SL won.
Sri Lankans won my heart over with their friendliness.
Galle is a scenic city. Lots of Portuguese influence there.
September 25th 2012 @ 4:28pm
Russ said | September 25th 2012 @ 4:28pm | Report comment
Kersi, I know this goes against prevailing opinion, but one of the biggest problems is that there just aren’t enough games.
The group stage is really slow, and a lot of the games aren’t close (and not just the non-top-8 mismatches). Inevitably, if there is only one match a day, people will turn off if that match isn’t so good. If we had (as in the FIFA/Rugby WC) 2 or 3 matches per day, odds are, at least one will offer something. A dogged encounter between a couple of low ranked teams can be just as entertaining as a high-profile star-laden top-8 game. Particularly, especially, if the groups were structured so that the associates had a reasonable chance of progressing to the knock-outs, and some incentive (such as a bye to a latter round) was available for winning the group.
But, as is so often the case with major ICC events – and here it is worth noting that the qualifiers had 8 games per day for two weeks and were truly a great if under-reported festival of cricket – every day is lived in forlorn hope that maybe something special will happen.
September 25th 2012 @ 11:12am
Matt F said | September 25th 2012 @ 11:12am | Report comment
I’m with you on the wstrange SUper 8′s format. Apparently the 8 teams are now dplaced into 2 new groups of 4 and play each team in their group (hence the 3 games in the Super 8′s) but for some stupid reason the rankings for each team are based on their seeding going into the tournament rather than their performance in the initial group stage….at least that’s what Wikipedia says anyway….
It makes no sense at all but then again this tournament is being held at the start of monsoon season in SL so it doesn’t look like they’ve organised anything well!
September 25th 2012 @ 3:29pm
sheek said | September 25th 2012 @ 3:29pm | Report comment
Hi Kersi,
At 32 Harbhajan Singh is not old. Providing he retains his desire & form, he should be able to continue for another half-dozen years. But the question is, in which forms of the game will he continue?
I can’t explain the format of T20, or why the top seeds should meet each other. But very odd decisions are made by organisers in all sports. Let me give you an example.
I notice that Tucuman topped their pool in the Argentine rugby provincial zone championships. In one semi-final, they played the runner-up of the other pool, which happened to be Buenos Aires.
The semi was drawn 20-20, but because BA scored the first try, they progressed to the final at the expense of Tucuman. I scratched my head wondering how this could be? Surely, coming into the semi with the better record would have given Tucuman the advantage. Most sensible people would think so. But in this case, no.
So organisers do make some very strange decisions. Far too often it seems.
BTW, I have watched some T20 by adopting the Brett McKay method – enjoy each delivery for what it is rather than following the score. I actually enjoyed it, although I’m not going to tell Brett this just yet!
Even so, I don’t subscribe to T20 being played at international level, & in this regard I support others who have made the same claim.
I apologise for getting slightly off-track, but for me test cricket remains the ‘raison d’etre’ for cricket. Followed by LO cricket which I still enjoy watching . T20 should be used for the reason it was created – an entry point for young, aspiring cricketers.
Whatever the cricket administrators around the world tell us, by investing so much money & time into T20, & neglecting to tinker with test cricket in order to make it relevant to today’s society & lifestyle (eg, 4 day-nights, coloured clothing, etc), they are signaling test cricket’s demise either intentionally or otherwise.
September 25th 2012 @ 3:39pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 25th 2012 @ 3:39pm | Report comment
Hi Sheek,
Your photo looks good. Your views sound even better.
I enjoy all forms of the game. But Test cricket is something special.
T20 format should be ideal for Olympics or Commonwealth games.
When will Australia-NZ host a World T20? I enjoy watching international events.
September 27th 2012 @ 11:23am
k77sujith said | September 27th 2012 @ 11:23am | Report comment
He seems to be in great form but I doubt he can sustain this form over the course of the tournament, just being the person he is. Thanks.
September 27th 2012 @ 2:03pm
Kersi Meher-Homji said | September 27th 2012 @ 2:03pm | Report comment
Many of Roar readers thought World T20 to be of no consequence. However, Mike Hussey considers the Australia v. India match on Saturday night (Suday morning EST) to be akin to a Grand Final. Oh for a Symonds to complement Harbhajan!