Harbhajan should take on a mentoring role

During the Chennai Test, Harbhajan Singh went past Lance Gibbs’ aggregate to become the second most successful offspinner in the game behind Muttiah Muralitharan. For his 309 wickets, Gibbs played 79 Tests over 18 years; Harbhajan’s 310 have come in ten years and 73 Tests. He is only 28 and given different circumstances might have been pushing for the captaincy. That question does not arise now, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a younger man in charge and inspiring the team to famous victories.

But on the evidence of the Chennai Test, the question that needs to be asked is this: Is Harbhajan suffering from the No. 1 syndrome, the pressure of being the top spinner in the side? He is trying too hard, bowling too fast and too flat and on a track he should have thrived on, he finished with just four wickets in the match.

India’s victory and yet another failure by Rahul Dravid will ensure that the focus will be elsewhere, but India’s leading spinner needs to introspect. He needs to play the kind of mentoring role to the younger spinners that Anil Kumble did when Harbhajan himself was making his debut. He needs to dine at the high table with the captain, planning strategy and ensuring that India’s pre-eminent position as the home of spin is retained. But none of the big picture contribution will be forthcoming if the bowler lacks the confidence that comes from having wickets in the bag.

With Kumble, Harbhajan formed one of the most successful partnerships - in the 54 Tests they played together, they claimed 501 wickets and helped India to 21 victories. That is a terrific record.

Yet Harbhajan did not bowl in Chennai like a bowler with over 300 wickets in his bag. Traditionally English batsmen, unlike the Australians, have played offspin better than they have legspin. This, far from acting as a spur to the main spinner seems to have discouraged him, and the focus has been on keeping down the runs.

When the teams reassemble for the Mohali Test on Friday, they might decide to replace a spinner with a medium pacer if the track promises more for the seamer. Ironically, the respective spinners heading for the chopping block then might be the two leading men – India’s Harbhajan and England’s Monty Panesar. Both spinners seemed to forget in Chennai that they were in the team to take wickets, not just to keep down the runs.

Spin bowling is about taking chances, about challenging the batsman into making mistakes, drawing them forward to drive the ball that doesn’t get there or tricking them into misreading the spin. Harbhajan’s predictability does not augur well for the Indian team. He is an attacking bowler by temperament and technique. And he needs to rediscover the touch that has made him so successful so far. He is the country’s number one spinner - he must bowl like one.