da betano casino： The veteran India offspinner recalls the time he discovered that it had been harder to bowl at the Under-19 level than to some of Services’ batsmen
da spicy bet： Harbhajan Singh28-Nov-2016Punjab v Services, Mohali, 1997-98Even before I made my Ranji Trophy debut, there was some chatter that I was in contention for a place in the Indian side. My name was doing the rounds because I had played the Under-19 World Cup, and I was the only spinner in the country who was bowling the at that time. Earlier in the season, when the Indian team was practising, I was asked to bowl in the nets to them.Before that, there was a West Zone team that came to Jalandhar for the Deodhar Trophy; there was Sanjay Manjrekar, who was leading the team, Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. I bowled to them in the nets and got all of them out quite a few times. At that time, [Mumbai coach] Balwinder Singh Sandhu apparently wanted me to represent Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, but people in the Punjab Cricket Association said I had a promising career ahead and would play for Punjab. So I knew my turn would come any time, and wasn’t really surprised by the call-up.The Punjab team had Vikram Rathour, who captained in this game, Sherry [Navjot Singh Sidhu], who captained the side that season, Pankaj Dharmani and Bharati Vij. These were the big guns we used to hear of during our U-19 days, and here I was, playing alongside them. I knew Punjab already had an offspinner in the form of Ashish Kapoor. I had no idea at that time if the wicket we played on would allow for two spinners to be played, but I got to play and I was really happy.The Punjab team was sponsored by a famous apparel brand at that time. Every player in the team used to wear the branded t-shirt – the jersey was nicely done and was proper “English white” in colour – and I used to long for it too. It was a great thrill to finally wear it, and I wouldn’t take it off even while bowling in the nets in Jalandhar.The one thing I was most scared of – and there wasn’t much nervousness about my debut – was facing up to one of their bowlers, who had a reputation for being very quick; I think it was MV Rao. At the U-19 level, you don’t face many quick bowlers, and you naturally assume that bowlers in the Ranji Trophy are much faster.I was worried about being hit by Rao, and kept praying that he wouldn’t bowl to me. It was one of my earliest experiences of wearing the helmet – given the hype around Rao’s pace, I would have gladly worn two of those. As luck would have it, it was Rao who was bowling when I came out to bat. But, after I got bat on ball off the first delivery, I felt good and realised I had been unnecessarily scared. Now, I knew that he wasn’t unplayable.Soon, I began to treat it as just another game. Somewhere down the line, I realised that it had been harder bowling to some U-19 batsmen than against Services because they weren’t a great team at that time. When I picked up my first wicket, Sherry said in his typical style: “” [well done, kid]. Sherry was my hero. There was a jolly environment in the team at that time, and we would constantly pull each other’s legs. I was younger than most and used to hang out a lot with Harvinder Singh most of the time; he was another prankster.I played only four or five first-class matches before my international debut. In that season, there was a game against Karnataka, which was quite crucial for Punjab. Nine of Karnataka’s eleven players were internationals – people like Rahul Dravid, Sujith Somasundar, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and Anil [Kumble] were playing. The selectors were there to see what the big fuss was about me. I picked up three wickets in the first innings and two in the second.I bowled well in whatever opportunity I got in the game. I troubled Rahul Dravid quite a bit, and was more than happy that I was challenging a top batsman like him. With every game I played, I knew I was coming one step closer to my dream of playing for the country.