''It Was A Love At First Sight Moment,'' Sourav Ganguly On Harbhajan Singh

The former skipper of the Indian National Cricket Team Sourav Ganguly has been part of a glorious Indian team for almost a decade. The current president of BCCI, Ganguly, has quite a few stories under his belt to reveal it for the young generations. On Thursday, he revealed one such story that happened between him and his spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

Speaking about his first encounter with Harbhajan Singh when he watched his bowling in the Eden Gardens. Sourav Ganguly termed that he fell in love at first sight with Harbhajan Singh after watching him deliver the goods claiming 14 wickets including a hat-trick in that historic Tests.

I believed in match-winners – Harbhajan Singh

It was a series where Harbhajan was the thorn in the Australian flesh as he picked up 32 wickets across the three-Test matches, which included a hat-trick at Eden Gardens. The knock of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid might have etched their name for that Test in 2001, but Harbhajan Singh was the player who helped the team to secure victory and gave special status for those knocks.

Further, he showered words of praise on Anil Kumble, who accompanied Harbhajan Singh in giving those crucial victories for India on home soil. Sourav Ganguly stated that he always believed in the match-winners and used to pick those flamboyance players, who can do the job.

“They say it’s love at first sight. And when I saw the Harbhajan bowl at Eden, picking up 14 wickets. It was love at first sight for a cricketer who I believed would go on to change things for Indian cricket. And 800 wickets after that, I am not surprised. He and Anil were the two best spinners India has ever had together in terms of the no of wickets and the impact that they have had on Test matches.

“And when the young boys came in, I had some belief. I believed in match-winners, I believed in flamboyance players who are fearless. That’s the only you can win matches. I never played for a draw. It’s either you lose, or you win. There is nothing in between,” Sourav Ganguly said in a show on India Today.

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Well, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble have played a significant part in the success that Sourav Ganguly had during his captaincy period for the Indian team. They used to be his two shining stars and the go-to people in Test matches, especially in the home matches. While Kumble has retired from the game, Harbhajan is still a part of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.