Harbhajan Singh Was More Beautiful To Watch, Ravichandran Ashwin Is Tougher To Face - Gautam Gambhir

Former Indian batter Gautam Gambhir claimed that he would much rather be facing Harbhajan Singh than Ravichandran Ashwin since the latter has a lot more variations and is quite deadly against left-handers.

Ashwin recently picked up six wickets in the first Test against Sri Lanka and helped India take a 1-0 lead over their Asian rivals. He became the second-highest wicket-taker for India in the process, now only behind Anil Kumble’s tally of 619 wickets.

Naturally, a debate regarding the better spinner between Ashwin and Harbhajan popped up and Gambhir had his say. Harbhajan took 417 wickets in his Test career as well, the 4th highest among Indians.

“As a batter, I would hate to face Ravichandran Ashwin, but I would love to watch Harbhajan Singh. This means, that as a left-hander, I would always feel that Ashwin could dismiss me, but as an analyst, then Harbhajan…he had that bounce, that doosra and could dip the ball.”

“And Ashwin, for a left-hander or any other batter, he is much more difficult to face because he is far more accurate and difficult because of his speed variations. Harbhajan Singh was more beautiful to watch,” Gambhir told Star Sports following India’s win over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Mohali.

“Ashwin is at par with Kapil Dev” – Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir also made a huge statement with respect to Ashwin, asserting that he is on par with the former legendary all-rounder, Kapil Dev, especially considering Ashwin has scored five Test hundreds as well in his career so far.

“Ashwin is at par with Kapil Dev. He has five Test hundreds, and he has been impactful throughout his career. I don’t want to go with stats. They can be very, very misleading. Ashwin’s spell in Melbourne was the best I have seen in my entire career.“

“He dismissed Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Matthew Wade, and I don’t think any spinner has managed to generate that kind of impact with the Kookaburra ball,” Gambhir further added.

Ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka, Ashwin has the chance to go past Dale Steyn’s tally of 439 wickets and become the 8th highest wicket-taker in the world.

Also Read – If Anil Kumble Had DRS, He Would Have Taken 1000 Wickets – Rajkumar Sharma