Veteran Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh named his top 5 Indian Premier League (IPL) batsmen during a recent Instagram live session with Indian opener Rohit Sharma. The ‘Turbanator’ was quizzed by Rohit to name those five batters who he rates the best. The Jalandhar-born responded to the question and picked five such batsmen who are his favourite.
Harbhajan chose two batsmen from his previous IPL franchise Mumbai Indians (MI), two from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and one from his current side Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The offie started the proceedings by picking the man he was talking to during the chat, i.e. Rohit. The MI captain is the third-highest run-getter in the lucrative league (4898 runs). Harbhajan then named Hardik Pandya, another MI player as his most liked batsman.
From RCB, Harbhajan picked captain Virat Kohli and ‘Mr 360’ AB de Villiers. Kohli is the top run-scorer of IPL, having as many as 5412 runs to his name, while De Villiers is third-highest overseas run-scorer (4395) in the cash-rich league amongst foreign players.
Bhajji then went with his present IPL team’s skipper MS Dhoni as his favourite batsman of the exciting league. In 190 games, Dhoni has scored 4432 runs – seventh highest in the history of IPL. The Ranchi-born has also smashed 209 sixes so far which is the third most and first amongst Indian batsmen.
Ricky Ponting used to get out just by looking at my face: Harbhajan
During the chat, Harbhajan also revealed that the former Australia captain and his teammate in Mumbai Indians used to get out just by seeing his face.
“I think Ricky Ponting used to get out just by looking at my face. I didn’t even need to bowl at him. When he came to play for Mumbai Indians, I thought he would improve after playing me in the nets. But even there I got him out 5-6 times,” said the 39-year-old.
In Test cricket, Harbhajan and Ponting have met 14 times, out of which the off-spinner has dismissed Ponting 10 times, which is the most by any bowler.
