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Harbhajan Singh 5 unbreakable cricket records: That evening at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, when a 20-year-old youth brought the pride of the Kangaroos to their knees, is recorded in the golden pages of cricket history. Even the world’s most powerful batsmen were seen dancing on the crease in front of the ‘doosra’ of that turban-wearing spin bowler. We are talking about Harbhajan Singh, one of the biggest match winners of Indian cricket, whom the whole world fondly calls ‘Bhajji’ or ‘Turbanator’. From 1998 to 2015, for almost two decades, Harbhajan Singh kept the batsmen of the opposing team tied with the magic of his fingers.
No cricket lover can forget that historic week of March 2001. On the first day of the Kolkata Test against Australia, Harbhajan Singh accomplished a feat which no Indian bowler could do before him. He hit the first hat-trick in India’s Test history by showing the way to the pavilion to three Australian giants in three consecutive balls. This hat-trick not only changed the fate of the match but also gave a new confidence to Indian cricket.
The most special thing about this hat-trick of Harbhajan Singh was that he did not dismiss any tail batsman, but the most dangerous batsman in the world. He first got Ricky Ponting out LBW, then trapped Adam Gilchrist in the same manner on the very next ball. He created history by getting Shane Warne caught out by Sadagopan Ramesh on the hat-trick ball. After this great record, no Indian could repeat it for years. After him, only Irfan Pathan in 2006 and Jasprit Bumrah in 2019 have been able to take a hat-trick for India in Test cricket.
In July 2011, when the Indian team was on the West Indies tour, another golden chapter was added to Harbhajan Singh’s career. As soon as he dismissed West Indies batsman Carlton Baugh during the Dominica Test, he completed his 400 wickets in Test cricket. Bhajji became the youngest bowler from India to touch this magical figure. At that time his age was only 31 years and 4 days. Reaching this position at such a young age was the biggest proof of his consistency and talent.
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When it comes to the world record of being the youngest to take 400 Test wickets, Harbhajan Singh’s name appears at the top of the list of the world’s greatest bowlers. In the entire history of Test cricket, Sri Lanka’s great off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been the only bowler who achieved this feat at a younger age than Harbhajan. Muralitharan had accomplished this feat at the age of 29 years and 273 days. This record of Bhajji is still safe in Indian cricket.
Harbhajan Singh played 103 Test matches in his illustrious career and took a total of 417 wickets at an average of 32.46. He became only the fourth bowler in India’s Test history to cross the 400 wicket mark. Ahead of him, only great players like Anil Kumble (619 wickets), Kapil Dev (434 wickets) and Ravichandran Ashwin (427 wickets) have been present. Harbhajan’s presence among these greats shows how much contribution he has made in the foundation of the success of Indian cricket.
When Harbhajan Singh was in his element, he had the ability to single-handedly defeat the entire opposition team. The best performance of his career was taking 15 wickets for 217 runs in a match. This was not only the best performance of his career, but is also counted among the best and most lethal bowling performances by any Indian bowler in the history of Test cricket. In this match, no batsman of the opposing team was able to read his spin.
Harbhajan Singh’s magic was not limited to Test cricket only. He also played an important role in the victory of the Indian team in ODI and T-20 international matches. Between 1998 and 2015, he played a total of 365 international matches, in which he took a total of 707 wickets with an excellent average of 32.59. This figure reflects his versatility, due to which he remained the most reliable weapon of captains in every format.
If we look at Harbhajan’s 707 international wickets separately, he took 417 wickets in Test matches, 265 wickets in ODI matches and 25 wickets in T-20 Internationals. With this huge figure, he is India’s second highest wicket taker across all formats. Ahead of him is only India’s greatest leg spinner Anil Kumble, who has 953 international wickets in his name. The pair of these two led the golden era of Indian spin bowling for a long time.
The world knows Harbhajan Singh as a great bowler, but in the year 2010 he surprised the whole world with his batting. In the home Test series played against New Zealand, Bhajji did something amazing with the bat which had never happened in the history of cricket. He became the first batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two centuries in two consecutive matches while batting at number 8. These innings played in times of crisis established him as an all-rounder.
In both those matches against New Zealand, the Indian team was stuck in a very difficult situation at one time. Harbhajan Singh not only handled the innings along with the lower order batsmen, but also made the match completely safe by scoring a century in style. Thanks to his brilliant century innings, India drew both those matches. For this amazing and historic performance with the bat along with bowling, Harbhajan Singh was awarded the title of ‘Man of the Series’ in that series.
