Harbhajan Singh announced his retirement from all forms of cricket last year. Then there were speculations that Bhajji could enter politics. This was also confirmed after the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday made it a candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.
Harbhajan started the journey of cricket 26 years ago. His journey from the cricket field to the field of politics.
Bhajji started playing cricket in 1995.
Bhajji got an opportunity to play under-16 cricket for Punjab in 1995. In his U-16 debut test match itself, Harbhajan took 12 wickets against Haryana.
After this, Harbhajan’s impressive performance in domestic cricket continued for two years. Only two years later, Bhajji got an opportunity to debut in first-class cricket.
In October 1997, Harbhajan got a chance to play in the Ranji Trophy. He was then included in the squad for the 1998 Under-19 World Cup. In this tournament, Bhajji took eight wickets in six matches. In this way, he caught the attention of the Indian selectors.
Arrived to play Test against Australia directly from Under-19 World Cup
In 1998, when the Under-19 World Cup was being played, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was also being played between the national teams of India and Australia.
As soon as the Under-19 World Cup was over, Harbhajan was immediately included in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In his debut (Test) in international cricket, Harbhajan could take just two wickets.
The very next month, Harbhajan got a chance to make his ODI debut as well. Harbhajan played his first ODI against New Zealand. His performance in his ODI debut too was not special and was able to take only one wicket.
Harbhajan’s debut in international cricket was not the same as his performance in first-class, under-16 and under-19 cricket tournaments.
There was also controversy over Harbhajan’s bowling action
After a few years, there was a controversy regarding Harbhajan’s bowling action. In such a situation, Harbhajan had to stay out of the national team for almost two years.
Harbhajan made a comeback in the year 2001. Sourav Ganguly, then the captain of Team India, included Harbhajan in the team for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to be held in India.
Ganguly’s decision proved to be correct and Harbhajan picked up 32 wickets in three Tests to help India win the series. In this series itself, he took a hat-trick and also became the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in Test cricket.
India’s fourth most successful Test bowler
Harbhajan rose to prominence in Indian cricket after the Australia series and became the team’s second main spinner after Anil Kumble. From here Harbhajan never looked back. He took five wickets against West Indies in Jamaica in 2006.
Due to this, Team India was able to win the Test series in the Windies after 35 years. Harbhajan took 417 wickets in 103 Test matches for India. He is India’s fourth and 14th most successful Test bowler overall.
India had a strong performance Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in 2008 but suffered a loss due to wrong umpiring. On the Australian tour, the players there were also sledging the Indian players.
In the same series, Harbhajan was accused of calling Andrew Symonds a monkey in the Sydney Test. The umpires found Harbhajan guilty and banned him from playing three Test matches. However, this could not be proved and the ban was lifted after only one test.
Harbhajan’s special role in the 2011 World Cup victory
Harbhajan also bowled many match-winning performances for Team India in ODIs. In the ODI World Cup held in 2003, Bhajji played a special role in taking Team India to the final. He took 11 wickets in this tournament.
Harbhajan was also included in the team that won the ODI World Cup in 2011. He took 269 wickets in 236 matches in ODI cricket. In this list, he is fifth among Indian bowlers and 22nd overall.
Was also involved in the T20 World Cup-winning team India
Harbhajan made his T20 debut against South Africa. He was also a part of Team India which won the T20 World Cup in 2007. In IPL, he played for the Mumbai Indians team for a long time.
After playing with Mumbai Indians from 2008-to 2017, he was in the team of Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders for the last three years. Bhajji has 150 wickets in 163 matches in IPL.
Harbhajan will now try his hand in politics
After retiring from all forms of cricket, Harbhajan Singh had said that he wanted to serve Punjab. Apart from this, Harbhajan has also appeared in many films.
These include films like Friendship (2021) and Dikkiloona (2021). However, now Bhajji has been made a Rajya Sabha candidate from the Aam Aadmi Party.
According to sources, discussions have also intensified about Harbhajan Singh being made the head of a sports university in Punjab.
The discussion about Harbhajan joining politics intensified when in December last year, a picture was tweeted on behalf of the then Punjab Congress President Navjot Sidhu. Sharing the picture with Bhajji, Sidhu called it a picture full of possibilities.
Earlier there were rumours of cricketer Harbhajan Singh joining the BJP. After which Harbhajan Singh himself had to come forward.
Rejecting the discussions about joining the BJP, he had called the rumours going on in social media false. Earlier, discussions about Harbhajan joining the Congress in the 2017 assembly elections had also intensified, but nothing like this happened.