Harbhajan Singh becomes third Indian to take 200 Twenty20 wickets
The last time Mumbai Indians were playing Rising Pune Supergiant, Harbhajan Singh was cooling his heels in the dugout. It was the season opener and his team went on to lose the game. He was back in the team for the second match. Whether he would have got the break had Ambati Rayudu not got injured, only the Mumbai Indians think-tank will know, but Harbhajan hasn’t looked back since.
He has been skipper Rohit Sharma’s go-to bowler ever since and the results are there to see. Mumbai Indians won six straight games after the early reversal.
On Monday, Harbhajan was again at his miserly best, giving away just 20 runs in four overs. He also picked the prized scalp of RPS captain, Steve Smith, who was the match-winner in that opening skirmish. Smith’s scalp was also Harbhajan’s 200th wicket in T20. The off-spinner is the third Indian and the 19th player overall to reach the mark.
Harbhajan reached the landmark in his 225th game. He is behind R Ashwin and Amit Mishra who have 200 and 208 wickets respectively. The Turbanator required just one wicket to reach the landmark but had gone wicketless in the previous two games, against Delhi Daredevils and KXIP. Here too, it was the last ball of his quota of overs when he sent Smith’s timber crashing, much to the delight of the packed home crowd. Smith had scored 17 off 12 and was looking to settle down.
The wicket helped Mumbai Indians make a comeback in the game after Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi had provided a perfect platform with a 76-run opening stand for Rising Pune Supergiant.
Harbhajan has not had many wickets to show for his efforts in the seven games he has played, but that is because the batsmen have been cautious dealing against him. He is yet to concede more than 30 runs in any game.