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This is an archive article published on September 29, 2010

Australians wary of the Turbanator

During his 13-year-long Test career,he has picked up more wickets against Australia than any other country — 79 of a total 357 wickets.

During his 13-year-long Test career,he has picked up more wickets against Australia than any other country — 79 of a total 357 wickets. Ricky Ponting (10 occasions),Matthew Hayden (nine) and Adam Gilchrist (seven) figure as the three batsmen he has dismissed the most number of times in Tests. No wonder then that the visitors continue to remain wary of Harbhajan Singh despite reports that he might be unfit for the first Test at Mohali.

While the Indian team management continues to fret over the 30-year-old off-spinner’s availability for the highly-anticipated clash,Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke seemed confident that his team will have to deal with their long-term nemesis,come Friday.

“I think Harbhajan will definitely play the first match. I am very confident about it,” said Clarke,while adding,“He likes playing against Australia and I will be very surprised if he doesn’t play. I saw him practice at the Sector 16 stadium and I am going to be preparing to face him. He has had tremendous success against Australia and if he doesn’t play it will be a huge bonus for us.”

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Harbhajan,who left India’s tour of Sri Lanka prematurely due to a calf injury,had recovered in time for the Champions League T20,where he represented Mumbai Indians. But after having complained of a side strain following the Indian team’s training session on Monday,he had gone in for an MRI scan. And though that did not stop him from practicing on Tuesday,the team management have decided to assess his fitness closer to the Test.

Apart from having been the scourge of a number of Australian batsmen with the ball,Harbhajan has also managed to get under their skins on a number of occasions,the most notorious being his showdown with Andrew Symonds during India’s tour to Australia in 2007-08. But Clarke believed in playing down Harbhajan’s role as India’s aggressor on the field and revealed that his team mates would be better-advised to focus on the threat that India’s most successful off-spinner posed with the ball in hand.

“I think certain players like that confrontation. There are guys like him in all teams around the world who perform better in those situations. But I know how good a bowler he is,so I will be more focused on trying to counter what comes out of his hand. He’s always tough to face and I really enjoy facing him because I think he is one of the best spinners in the world,” he said.

Harbhajan’s kamikaze exploits with the bat down the order in recent years too haven’t gone unnoticed by the Australians. After all,it was his rather uncustomary knock of 54 that denied them a victory in the first Test at Bangalore last time around.

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