Harbhajan Singh Opens Up On Getting Dismissed By Adam Gilchrist In IPL 2013
Published - 08 May 2020, 06:10 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:06 AM
Harbhajan Singh and Adam Gilchrist had a plethora of memorable tussles during their playing days. While the Indian off-spinner dismissed the champion wicket-keeper-batsman on 11 occasions in Test cricket, Gilchrist too had his fair share of success against the ‘turbanator’ in white-ball cricket.
But, Harbhajan Singh wouldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams that Gilchrist will come out trumps against him with the ball. It all happened during the 69th match of the 2013 Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab.
Mumbai Indians had already qualified for the playoffs and with 51 needed off the final six balls during their dead-rubber game against Kings XI Punjab, captain Adam Gilchrist, who was playing his last IPL game, decided to have some fun and brought himself to bowl after handing the gloves to Praveen Kumar.
It is pertinent to note that Gilchrist has bowled just two overs in List-A cricket, prior to that and no wonder Harbhajan thought that he’ll slog him for a six. But to Bhajji’s dismay, he mistimed the ball and holed at the long-on boundary. Harbhajan went down memory lane and reckoned that there couldn’t be a more embarrassing moment than that.
“Looking at ground’s size, I thought I will hit every ball out of the ground. But that didn’t happen. I got caught on the boundary line. There can’t be an embarrassing moment like that – getting out to a player who might have not bowled even in nets. I made him happy. I have dismissed him so many times in Test cricket,” Harbhajan Singh told Gaurav Kapoor on Isolation Premier League.
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Adam Gilchrist took just one ball to dismiss Harbhajan Singh
That dismissal kicked off wild celebrations from the champion wicketkeeper-batsman as he proceeded to perform Gangnam dance on the field.
KXIP went on to win the match by 50 runs and to date Adam Gilchrist remains the only bowler to take a wicket off the first ball in IPL history. That moment notwithstanding, the season turned out to be a memorable one for Harbhajan and Mumbai Indians as they went on to notch up their first Indian Premier League title by beating Chennai Super Kings in the final.
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