IPL 2019: Harbhajan jumps up the wicket charts after super show against RCB

Harbhajan Singh was back to doing what he does best on Saturday, which is to bamboozle batsmen with his spin. Sidelined from the Indian team for a while now, Harbhajan’s main draw has been his outings in the IPL but the off-spinner got limited opportunities with defending champions Chennai Super Kings last season.

Once a mainstay of the Mumbai Indians team, Harbhajan needed to prove himself all over again and when he was named in CSK’s opening match of the season against RCB, ‘Bhajji’ knew he had to give a big performance.

Challenged by MS Dhoni to bowl with the new ball on a spin friendly track, Harbhajan provided three telling blows to scuttle RCB’s hopes of winning their first match against ‘Yellow Submarine’ since 2014.

Harbhajan picked up RCB’s three best batsmen, captain Virat Kohli, talisman AB de Villiers and the bankable Moeen Ali, to bring the Bengaluru outfit on its knees. The result was a facile win for CSK.

As a result of this magnanimous performance, Harbhajan was adjudged ‘Man of the match’. His performance on Saturday catapulted him to the joint top position for most successful bowler against RCB in IPL history.

Harbhajan now has 23 wickets against RCB from 22 matches, which puts him at par with RCB’s current bowling coach Ashish Nehra, who too was a CSK player.

Not just this, the 2011 World Cup winner’s super show means he is now the joint fourth highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL with 137 wickets. He is level with CSK teammate Dwayne Bravo and has the likes of Piyush Chawla (140) and Amit Mishra (146) in his sight now.

If Bhajji continues to pick up wickets like this, CSK is set for another golden run and the ‘Turbanator’ could well make his way to the top of the wicket-takers table.

First Published: Mar 24, 2019 15:03 IST