A player of passion, with talent to match, Harbhajan Singh is India's most successful offspin bowler. Purists might mutter about a lack of loop and flight, but he is very much a product of his times where short boundaries, heavy bats and shorter forms afford little latitude to slow bowlers. Bowling with a windmilling, whiplash action, remodelled after he was reported for throwing, he deals by varying his length and his pace, and can turn it the other way too. His deadliest ball, however, is the one that climbs wickedly from a length, forcing a hurried jab. In March 2001, it proved too much for the all-conquering Australians, as Harbhajan collected 32 wickets in three Tests, including the first Test hat-trick by an Indian, while none of his team-mates managed more than three.
His personal rivalry against the Australians has provided him both the highest and the lowest points of his career. Invariably, he has managed to raise his game against them, and been singularly responsible for Ricky Ponting's low scores on Indian soil - he dismissed him five times under 12 in the 2001 series - and some his punchiest batting performances has come against them too. But in 2008 his confrontation with Andrew Symonds created one of the ugliest controversies in cricket - he was initially charged with racial insult, which was reduced to abuse on appeal. Later that year, he was banned for whole IPL season for slapping Sreesanth, his Indian team-mate. When he channels his natural combativeness in the right direction, he can be a fiercely competitive and dangerous opponent. He was expected to be India's lead spinner in the all three forms of the game after Anil Kumble's retirement, but following a run of poor form was dropped from India's Test team for home series against West Indies and the tour of Australia in the 2011-12 season.

Harbhajan eventually made a comeback to the Test side, and became the 10th Indian to have played 100 Tests when he took field against Australia in Chennai.

However, he was dropped after the next Test and was banished to the domestic set-up. He performed impressively for Mumbai Indians in the 2015 IPL, collecting 16 wickets in 14 games, and was later recalled for the lone Test against Bangladesh that year.
Sambit Bal

• March 25-28, 1998
  An early start
  • Harbhajan gets his first Test cap in Bangalore as a 17-year-old against Mark Taylor's Australia. It's a quiet beginning for him, taking two wickets in the dead rubber, which India lose.
    
• February 27-March 22, 2001
  A fairytale comeback
  • After more than a year out of the team, he makes a stunning return against a rampant Australian team, snaring 32 wickets in three Tests in one of the most riveting series. He becomes the first Indian to take a Test hat-trick on his way to 13 wickets in Kolkata before bettering that with 15 in the decider in Chennai that hands India the series.
    
• October 9-12, 2002
  Spinning out woeful Windies
  • He takes out seven West Indian batsmen in the second innings of the first Test in Mumbai to steer India to their first-ever innings victory over the men from the Caribbean. In a throwback to the 90s when Indian spinners were near-unplayable at home, he and Anil Kumble share 15 wickets to finish the game within four days.
    
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• December 20, 2003
  Troublesome finger
  • After a run of stale performances, he opts for surgery to correct the ligament rupture on his right-hand middle finger, which had troubled him for nearly a year. He is ruled out of competitive cricket for more than five months.
    
• November 3-5, 2004
  Mumbai cliffhanger
  • On a pitch that turned viciously from the start, India pull off a thrilling 13-run victory over Australia, defending 106 in a dead rubber in Mumbai. Harbhajan is one of the heroes in a match that barely lasted 200 overs, bagging 5 for 29 in the second innings as Australia crumbled to 93 all out.
    
• November 28-December 2, 2004
  Eden Gardens love affair continues
  • Led by a pair of stubborn Jacques Kallis innings, South Africa put up some stiff resistance in Kolkata, but Harbhajan winkles out seven second-innings wickets for 87 on a wearing track to set up an ultimately easy series-winning victory
    
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• March 20, 2005
  Action trouble
  • He is reported for a suspect action while delivering the doosra and it is only five months later, after detailed analysis of his action by a biomechanist at the University of Western Australia, that he is cleared
    
• December 18-22, 2005
  The classic Indian spin pair
  • Long-time captain Sourav Ganguly is excluded and Rahul Dravid out with illness but it is just like old times when Harbhajan combines superbly with Anil Kumble again to deliver India a thumping victory over Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad. The pair accounts for 17 of the Sri Lankan wickets to fall, with Harbhajan's seven in the first innings being the standout performance
    
• January 4, 2008
  The Sydney controversy
  • Initially gets a three-Test ban after match referee Mike Procter finds him guilty of making a racist comment to Andrew Symonds during the Sydney Test. On appeal, Justice John Hansen clears Harbhajan of the racism charge, and instead charges him with abuse and insult not amounting to racism - to which Harbhajan pleads guilty and is fined 50% of his match fees
    
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• April 25, 2008
  Sreesanth Slap-gate
  • After an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians in Mohali, he gets involved in an altercation with Sreesanth. He is banned for the rest of the IPL season and for five ODIs, after video evidence showed he slapped Sreesanth without any provocation.
    
• July 31-August 3, 2008
  Galle redemption
  • Puts a season of controversy behind with a ten-wicket match haul in Galle, helping India draw level in a Test series in which they are confounded by the guile of the spin duo of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan
    
• March 18-21, 2009
  Turning it on overseas
  • Picks up six second-innings wickets in Hamilton to guide India to a 1-0 lead in the series against New Zealand. The performance answers one of the persistent criticisms that has dogged him for much of his career - of not being able to run through opposition outside the subcontinent
    
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• September 14, 2009
  Denting Sri Lanka at home
  • A pumped-up Harbhajan hands India the Compaq Cup by wheedling out five wickets in the final at the R Premadasa Stadium, striking at crucial junctures to puncture Sri Lanka's chase
    
• February 14-18, 2010
  Ecstatic at Eden
  • Harbhajan is exceptional again at his favourite venue, taking five wickets in a marathon 48.3 second-innings overs to lead a Zaheer Khan-less attack to a heart-stopping, No. 1 rank-retaining victory over South Africa with nine mandatory deliveries to go.
    
• January 2-6, 2011
  Cape Town Superman
  • Against a strong South African line-up, Harbhajan takes the first four and last three wickets to finish with 7 for 120, his best innings figures in an overseas Test.
    
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• July 7, 2011
  Welcome to Club 400
  • Harbhajan dismissed Carlton Baugh in the third Test against West Indies in Dominica to become only the 11th bowler, and the third Indian, to take 400 Test wickets.
    
• July-August 2011
  Laid low in England
  • After two poor Tests in England, in which he took two wickets at 143.50, Harbhajan misses the last two Tests and the ODI series due to a strain in his abdomen.
    
• Nov 26, 2011
  Dropped for Australia
  • With R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha performing superbly in the home series against West Indies, there is no place for Harbhajan in the Test squad for the tour to Australia.
    
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