Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh won games for his country single-handedly during his stint in the team which lasted more than a decade.
Moreover, Bhajji lost his place in the Indian side with the rise of Tamil Nadu stalwart Ravichandran Ashwin, who was backed by former Indian captain MS Dhoni.
It can be safely stated that the two offies are the best ever produced by the country with as many as 782 wickets between them in red-ball cricket.
“A lot of people would say that there is a lot of jealousy between us. But I would want to call out to those detractors and say there is nothing like that. Ashwin is the best offie in the world right now. I also rate Nathan Lyon highly,” said Harbhajan on Ashwin’s Instagram show ‘ReminiscewithAsh’.
Further, Bhajji heaped praises on Australia’s premier off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who has grown leaps and bounds in international cricket. Both Ashwin and Lyon are leading wicket-takers amongst spinners in Test cricket.
“The Aussie (Lyon) is also up there because he has done extremely well for himself given the fact that he comes from Australia where the pitches hardly aid spinners. But Ashwin is a legend in the making,” added Bhajji.
Harbhajan only hopes Ashwin remains fit in the future and ends up with the most number of wickets in Tests.
“Going forward, I only want him to stay fit because he is capable of taking a lot more wickets and could finish among the highest wicket-takers in the world,” said Harbhajan.
However, Ashwin remains out of the Indian team in white-ball cricket post the 2017 Champions Trophy. After being appointed as the captain of the Kings XI Punjab, he was released prior to the auctions for the 2020 edition of IPL.
Ashwin was scheduled to take part in the thirteenth edition of the IPL, donning the Delhi Capitals jersey, before the tournament was suspended indefinitely amid COVID-19 outbreak.
