Cometh the hour, cometh the man. With his future on the line, Harbhajan Singh turned his career around after he was recalled to the national side at the behest of skipper Sourav Ganguly for the series against Australia. Bhajji, then a raw 20-year-old off-spinner, finished with 32 wickets in the three-Test series to emerge Man of the Series. Harbhajan took 13 wickets in the second Test in Calcutta, including the first hat trick by an Indian in Tests. Excerpts from an interview with Outlook’s Soumitra Bose.
What are your memories of that win at Eden Gardens?
It all seems fresh and vivid like yesterday. I was a little nervous going into the ground. We were down 1-0; Dada lost the toss again. We badly wanted to bowl in the fourth innings and how dramatically things changed in that game! It was a great game of cricket. I have never been part of a better Test match than that. As an individual, it gave me so much confidence that I thought that I finally belonged to...
