Harbhajan Singh’s story: from practicing in the headlight of a motorcycle to taking 400 Test wickets
Devinder Arora, Harbhajan Singh’s youth coach, remembers how a 13-year-old off-spinner blew him away with his distinctive motion and tremendous turn and bounce. Harbhajan Singh’s story, from practising in the headlight of a motorcycle to taking 400 Test wickets.
One academy alone produced nine players for India’s bronze-medal winning hockey team at the Tokyo Olympics. Manpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Hardik Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Shamsher Singh, Simranjeet Singh, and Krishan Pathak, India’s men’s hockey captain, all learned their craft at the famed Surjit Hockey Academy at Burlton Park, Jalandhar.
Burlton Park in Jalandhar was recognized for producing one of India’s best cricketers, Harbhajan Singh before hockey became popular. Here, too, began the voyage of the great off-spinner, who welded his wonderful skills with unique feistiness.
A rebellious 13-year-old
Harbhajan was first seen by Devinder Arora while playing gully cricket with kids his age. “We used to reside in the same mohalla,” says the narrator (locality). He was the first person I witness playing gully cricket. “His one-of-a-kind action piqued my interest,” Arora told The Indian Express.
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Harbhajan was my first learner when I began coaching in 1992. His father and I had an extraordinary relationship. When they brought Bhajji to me, they commented, “He needs to play cricket; see whether he has any talent.” When I first saw him bowl, I was taken aback by the amount of bounce he created. I was certain at the time that he would play for India. Still, in my most out of control dreams, I never envision he’d go on to play 100 Test matches for India, “said Arora, who had, as it were, played 10 first-class matches for Punjab some time ago, his career is cut short due to knee damage.
Amid a U-15 inter-district cricket occasion in Patiala, the coach was totally take aback. In 1993, we were playing at the Yadvindra Open School pitch in Patiala against Amritsar. When studying the pitch sometime recently the hurl, I watched some ants climbing out of the surface six inches exterior the off-stump. When I tapped that locale, it felt unimaginably delicate. Harbhajan was notified around it. He went on to require 15 wickets, and we effortlessly won the coordinate, “Arora reviewed.
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