Harbhajan Singh Signs for Essex

[Saj]

Essex Cricket is delighted to announce that Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh has agreed to join the County for the second half of the 2012 season.

The spin bowler will be arriving mid-July and will be available to play in the outstanding 8 LV= County Championship matches through until the end of the season, plus the county's seven remaining matches in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition.

His first appearance is scheduled for the match with Gloucestershire at Cheltenham on July 11th - subject to receiving a UK visa in time.

Essex Head Coach Paul Grayson has welcomed the signing saying, "We are delighted to have signed one of the best spinners in world cricket over the last 10 years or so. Harbhajan is a great character who is a match winner and I believe that his winning mentality will rub off on the rest of the playing squad here at Essex.

"I am really excited at the prospect of having him in the squad and this signing for the second half of the season shows that Essex mean business and will continue to fight in the LV= County Championship & Clydesdale Bank 40 formats of the game.

Harbhajan, 31, has played 98 Test Matches for India and 227 One Day Internationals. His Test appearances have yielded 406 wickets with a career-best 8-44 against Australia at Chennai in 2001 while he has also taken 7 wickets in an innings for India on six occasions. The right-arm off-spinner has also claimed 255 one-day international victims.

As an attacking-minded bowler who is highly regarded for his ball control and ability to vary his length and pace, Harbhajan is amongst the top ten of highest wicket-takers in Test history and is the third-highest Test wicket-taker among all Indian Test bowlers.

He made his Test debut in 1998 against Australia at Bangalore.

He is no stranger to Chelmsford having taken 7-83 and 1-23 when Essex met India in a drawn match at The Ford County Ground back in 2002. His haul of victims in the first innings included his 300th wicket in First-Class matches when he dismissed Jon Dakin.

[Bullet Drive]

That's very good for him. He needs to play as much cricket as possible. He's an underrated bowler in my view. 400 test wickets..

[Saurav]

good.hopefully he can rediscover himself like Zaheer did playing county.I see hium making a comeback in T20 WC

[cricketindiafan]

Great news for Bhajji and a nice birthday present for him. Hopefully he can find his wicket taking form again.

Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if he is now, out of the blue, picked for the ODI series vs SL starting later this month.

[Bullet Drive]

Originally Posted by Saurav good.hopefully he can rediscover himself like Zaheer did playing county.I see hium making a comeback in T20 WC

I don't think he will make a comeback though because India would have selected him for the West Indies A tour.

[Saurav]

Originally Posted by Bullet Drive I don't think he will make a comeback though because India would have selected him for the West Indies A tour.

we selected Rahul Sharma n he sucked.so its between Ojha n Bhajji now.Bhajji's batting skills may get the nod for T20 WC

[Bullet Drive]

Originally Posted by Saurav we selected Rahul Sharma n he sucked.so its between Ojha n Bhajji now.Bhajji's batting skills may get the nod for T20 WC

I'd go for Ojha. How about Iqbal Abdulla? I've seen him bowl and he's a very good bowler. Can bat abit also. And who's that left arm spinner who played for Delhi Daredevils? He was very good too? Negi is a good spinner to but there was another one.

[cricketworm]

Hope he does well and put pressure on Ojha and Ashwin to do better.

[cricketworm]

Originally Posted by Bullet Drive I'd go for Ojha. How about Iqbal Abdulla? I've seen him bowl and he's a very good bowler. Can bat abit also. And who's that left arm spinner who played for Delhi Daredevils? He was very good too? Negi is a good spinner to but there was another one.

Nadeem.

Abdulla is good, but still very young, need another good ranji season before he can be picked.

[Bullet Drive]

Originally Posted by cricketworm Nadeem. Abdulla is good, but still very young, need another good ranji season before he can be picked.

Yeah that's him. I'm talking about selection for the T20 world cup. He doesn't need a Ranji season for that. Just a good IPL and I think he had that.

[pun500]

Originally Posted by Bullet Drive Yeah that's him. I'm talking about selection for the T20 world cup. He doesn't need a Ranji season for that. Just a good IPL and I think he had that.

no way in hell will selectors gamble on untested nadeem , negi or abdulla. Though abdulla i feel is very much international class.

It is highly unlikely ojha will be picked poor fielder and even poorer batsmen.

Bhajji i believe needs to be picked for world t20 he still can dart it in and man he is a better hitter than quite a few guys

[Bullet Drive]

Rahul Sharma had a poor IPL too. Would selectors go for Murali Karthik? He's a very very good T20 bowler.

[jeetu]

I hope Bhaji regains his touch.

[velu]

Bhajji's days r over i guess. His bowling in the latest IPL is his worse performance ever and chcikened out so many times.

Iqbal abdulla should be given chances ahead of rahul or ojha.
Also abdulla is a very good fielder and a very decent lower order batsmen.

[Gabbar Singh]

Bhajji is still a very good t20/odi bowler - terrible test bowler though (well he has been for the past few years). Nonetheless, good luck to him here.

[Saurav]

Originally Posted by Bullet Drive Rahul Sharma had a poor IPL too. Would selectors go for Murali Karthik? He's a very very good T20 bowler.

hes a very good bowler full stop.is being ignored because he spoke against selectors

[Saurav]

Abdulla is a good bowler,but doubt selectors will go for an untested player.only other option is Chawla n hv to be out of ur mind to select him

[withlovefrom vizag]

I think abdulla scored a century too.A budding all rounder like Chawla...

[withlovefrom vizag]

Murali kartik is very underrated and selectors are very arrogant towards him,Rahul sharma is the most pathetic spinner and he still gets the nod for most of the matches.

[freelance_cricketer]

As an attacking-minded bowler

Anyway Bhaj is cool, good luck to him. Wanna see the lion back in the team. Match winner !

[pun500]

for all the bhajji hate...the guy has always been a fighter..never thrown in the towel when so many of his team mates look like they gave up. Bhajji always fights with bat or ball and lets be honest his replacements have done jack..

[freelance_cricketer]

Originally Posted by pun500 for all the bhajji hate...the guy has always been a fighter..never thrown in the towel when so many of his team mates look like they gave up. Bhajji always fights with bat or ball and lets be honest his replacements have done jack..

+1
Harbie has always been an honest trier. Respect to him for that.

[paulkatich]

Originally Posted by freelance_cricketer +1 Harbie has always been an honest trier. Respect to him for that.

Except in england ?

[avidlearner]

Originally Posted by paulkatich Except in England/Australia/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka ?

Fixed

BTW, Bhajji is yet to play a test match against Pakistan in Pakistan (avgs mighty 52 against them in India, in bowling that is)

His best bowling avgs are against lowly ranked NZ, WI and Zimbabwe

[leatherface58]

Bhajan averages 22 in County cricket from what i have read. he played In 2005 and 2007

Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2

[ChennaiFan]

Good for Bhajji. Just play county cricket.

[Lethalweapon]

Originally Posted by avidlearner Fixed BTW, Bhajji is yet to play a test match against Pakistan in Pakistan (avgs mighty 52 against them in India, in bowling that is) His best bowling avgs are against lowly ranked NZ, WI and Zimbabwe

Ridiculous, HE GOT A 10FER IN THE FAMOUS GALLE TEST (Sehwag 201*). typical of Indians to ignore their bowlers achievements.

[velu]

Originally Posted by Lethalweapon Ridiculous, HE GOT A 10FER IN THE FAMOUS GALLE TEST (Sehwag 201*). typical of Indians to ignore their bowlers achievements.

why not include KAPIL DEV who got 10FER vs Pakistan in 1980 , and also got a 11FER vs WI in 1983

[ethan hunt]

Originally Posted by avidlearner Fixed BTW, Bhajji is yet to play a test match against Pakistan in Pakistan (avgs mighty 52 against them in India, in bowling that is) His best bowling avgs are against lowly ranked NZ, WI and Zimbabwe

are you sure ???

i dont seem to remember him picking up a wicket in that series though, all my memories are of him getting butchered .

[velu]

Originally Posted by ethan hunt are you sure ??? i dont seem to remember him picking up a wicket in that series though, all my memories are of him getting butchered .

lol.. u r right

Darty played 2 matches in pakistan , gave 355 runs at 4.38 and didnt pick any wicket

[avidlearner]

Originally Posted by ethan hunt are you sure ??? i dont seem to remember him picking up a wicket in that series though, all my memories are of him getting butchered .

Yep. You are right. I stand corrected on that. He did play against Pak in Pak but yet to get a wicket

[avidlearner]

Originally Posted by Lethalweapon Ridiculous, HE GOT A 10FER IN THE FAMOUS GALLE TEST (Sehwag 201*). typical of Indians to ignore their bowlers achievements.

Yep. He did get a 10fer in One match but flopped in 8 other tests in Sri Lanka. BTW, he has got a grand total of 25 wickets out of 9 tests against sri lanka in sri lankla (Avgs over 46).

So by your logic, is it typical of Indians to clutch onto a solitary achievement of a player, for a life even though the player who achieved it has proven to be crap for most part of post 2005 till 2012 and also clearly seems to have lost his mojo for a long time?

[avidlearner]

Bhajji at his containment mode in the debut game for Essex so far (No wickets for 33 runs in 12 overs). Expect him to get better as he plays more games.

http://cricketnext.in.com/live/news/.../66822-13.html

[cricketworm]

Chalo at least he is getting some wickets. This is not a bad sign at all.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-c...ch/542831.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-c...ch/542608.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-c...ch/542604.html

[withlovefrom vizag]