Harbhajan Singh: “The last Sri Lanka series at home served little purpose”
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With India enduring a disastrous tour of South Africa, former spinner Harbhajan Singh questioned why the national team opted to host Sri Lanka instead of properly prepare for their trip to the Rainbow Nation.
India’s series against Sri Lanka consisted of three Tests, three ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals, but Harbhajan feels the entire series was meaningless as it didn’t serve any purpose in assisting the national team with the hardships they would face on their tour of South Africa.
“Look I believe the last Sri Lanka series at home served little purpose,” he told SportStar as quoted by CricTracker. “We hardly gained anything out of it. Rather a few players could have gone to South Africa early. If not, Dharamsala could have been a great place for preparation.
“It’s high altitude, cooler weather, seam movement along with bounce would have given them ideal preparation before a tough assignment like South Africa.”
Meanwhile, Harbhajan refused to criticise India for leaving out batsman Ajinkya Rahane for the first two Tests. He backed up his opinion by saying that had the national team been in the same position if Rahane had played, there would be calls for Rohit Sharma to come into the side.
“What if Ajinkya played and India was down 0-2, then would we have said that please bring Rohit. One needs to understand the captain’s point of view also,” he said.
However, Harbhajan admitted that India were wrong to drop pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar in favour of Ishant Sharma for the second Test in Centurion.
Kumar’s omission from the squad stunned the cricketing community, especially as he had been one of India’s best performers in the first Test in Cape Town.
“Bhuvi is a bigger match-winner in today’s date compared to Ishant Sharma,” Harbhajan said. “Whenever Bhuvi has performed, India has done well.”
As for the third Test, which begins on January 24 in Johannesburg, the 37-year-old is optimistic that India will secure a consolation win.
“I still believe all is not lost,” he said. “We can bounce back and make it 2-1 in Johannesburg.”