Tour of West Indies challenging - Harbhajan

Harbhajan Singh, the Indian offspinner, thinks the upcoming tour of the West Indies would help India prepare better for the World Cup in the Caribbean next year as it would enable early assessment of the pitch and weather conditions there.

"The Indian team would be able to discern important information regarding the nature of wickets and climatic conditions in West Indies which would further assist the team to play well in the World Cup," Harbhajan told reporters in Ludhiana.

Harbhajan who termed the tour a challenging one, said the team would also be looking to break the jinx of not winning a Test series in the islands in 35 years. "I reckon our tour of West Indies to be a challenging one for India," said Harbhajan who was in the city to launch a quiz contest. "But the Indian team will put in its best efforts to win the Test series in that country which we have not done during last 35 years."

Harbhajan, who has 227 Test wickets to go with 151 ODI scalps, did not give much credence to concerns about player burnout, saying he enjoyed playing more and more cricket. "I cannot say about others but I never get fed up with playing more and more cricket," he said. When asked who were the toughest batsmen to bowl to, he mentioned Brian Lara and Matthew Hayden. "I find bowling to Lara and Hayden a great challenge."