‘It was the game that changed my career’

For the Indian cricket fan, there is no Test match quite like the India vs Australia Test at Eden Gardens in 2001. In a contest packed with superstars was a 20-year-old sardar with a rebellious streak, aiming only to survive. Harbhajan Singh, a rookie off-spinner from Jalandhar, wasn’t even sure then if cricket would be his career. He was not an obvious selection for the series. It was the backing of captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Wright that got him into the squad.

What followed is the stuff legends are made of. On the opening day, Singh claimed the first hat-trick by an Indian bowler in Test cricket. On the second day, he had his first five-wicket haul. On the final day he bowled India to a historic victory with a match haul of 13 wickets. His match figures: 13/196. For Singh, it was a career- and life-altering innings. It remains his favourite performance. “It had to happen for me in that game. God chooses the moment,” Singh says. Excerpts from an interview:

What do you think of when you think of the 2001 Eden Test?

It’s a game that changed my career, changed the vision of Indian cricket, (taught us, we ) can win games from nowhere. Even when nothing is going in your favour, you hang in there and keep fighting and you can get unbelievable results. It gave us direction as a team, (showed us) this is how we need to play. That we can beat the best side in the world; that we had the potential to beat anyone.

You were a rookie going into a match against the best team in the world…

For me, every game was about survival. I was out of the India team and making a comeback. A lot of things happened to me before that. I was chucked out of the National Cricket Academy. Then I lost my father. I was going through a very rough patch. I even thought about doing something else in life.

Australia were off to a great start, scoring more than three an over…

Australia were batting as if they were playing a one-day match. Hayden was in great form. He had scored a brilliant hundred at Mumbai (the previous Test), which I felt gave him that direction on how to bat in India. He started playing those big sweep shots and slogs over midwicket. His frame was so imposing, as a bowler, you wondered “Isko beat kaise karein? (How do you beat his bat?)”. Hayden was taking the game away from us. He got out on the boundary line (caught off

Singh’s bowling), that too on 97. That kind of opened the door for us. Then I got Mark Waugh after tea. Everything was in our favour after that. I got the hat-trick and the game was equal at the end of the first day.

What can you tell us about the three deliveries that yielded the hat-trick?

I tried to keep it very simple. I wanted to make sure I was not giving away too many runs. I wanted to bowl wicket to wicket. It was a very nice wicket to bat on. The ball skidded on to Ricky Ponting (first wicket) and he was a bit late and got out LBW. Adam Gilchrist: I knew if I tossed up the first ball he would sit and sweep; that was his get-out-of-jail shot, so I wanted to pull my length back a little and bowl a little quicker to him. He went back and didn’t have much time to react — the ball hit his pads.

For Shane Warne, I just wanted to make sure the ball was finishing on the stumps and kept the length fuller. Lot of people used to play with pads, and if he deliberately pads, then I may have a chance to get him LBW, I thought. I had bowled exactly where I wanted to, and he played that flick shot. S Ramesh, for a change, was very alert and took an outstanding catch off a full-blooded shot. Everyone out there was celebrating and the way Rahul Dravid hugged Ramesh was as if it was his hat-trick. That’s how it was, the kind of care we had for each other. As much as that hat-trick is mine, it is the team’s hat-trick.

Do you still speak to Ramesh about that catch?

I keep meeting Ramesh on commentary stints and I tell him: thank you for being awake that day. Normally he was so laidback that if there was an award for laziness he would have got it. If you look at his batting style it was also like that, but quite effective. I always remind him… he is a lovely guy.

Australia fought back through Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie…

We didn’t think we would collapse like that (171 all out) on a good wicket. Australians had the edge on us since they had the runs on the board (445) and Glenn McGrath was brilliant. We were outplayed in the first innings, but the second innings was very, very exciting for all of us. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid shared the best partnership I have ever seen in Test cricket. It was pure magic.

On the final day, at tea, Australia were at 163 for three. It didn’t look like there would be a good result for India...

We had created a few chances before tea. We just wanted to put enough pressure on them. We had a lot of close-in fielders, we had the runs on the board. Our main job was to take those wickets.

I’ve seen that in Kolkata the game moves really fast (post-tea). Wickets fall. I have seen that in all the matches I have played there. After Steve Waugh got out, it opened the door for us, then Sachin (Tendulkar) came in to bowl and bowled that brilliant spell, taking three very important wickets. It was a big opportunity for us to win the game from nowhere. It’s the game that changed my career and I think that it changed cricket. Teams stopped giving follow-ons after that.

What souvenir did you keep from that match?

I kept everything: the clothes I wore, the stump, the ball.