Finger spinners will come back, asserts Harbhajan

PUNE: Having seen wrist spinners rightly take most of the plaudits in the Indian Premier League this season, Chennai Super Kings’ Harbhajan Singh believes his breed of finger spinners will eventually find their way into the limelight.
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Speaking at an event here in the city, the off-spinner was of the opinion that the relative novelty of wrist spin was one of the reasons for the bowlers’ success in IPL 2018.“I think a lot of players have gotten used to playing finger spinners which is why wrist spinners have been successful of late. But I feel this is just a phase and after batsmen start reading wrist spinners well, the time of finger spinners will come again,” he said.
“Wrist spinners have three or four different deliveries in their arsenal like the googly, flipper and leg- spin whereas finger spinners have only one or two. To be successful in this format, you have to be very skillful and have variations in order to pick up wickets. But at the same time, if you’re not picking up wickets, you need to dry up the runs,” he added.
CSK have made a tremendous return after a two-year absence and are well in contention for the playoffs. Much of that is down to the resurgence of skipper MS Dhoni. “I think Dhoni is playing really freely. No one hits the ball better than him when he gets going. I have seen the fear in the bowlers’ eyes when they come up against him. I am really happy that he is back to his best,” said Harbhajan.
Another batsman making the headlines is 32-year-old Ambati Rayudu who is currently the highest run-getter in the IPL this season. And Harbhajan believes that despite Rayudu’s age, he would make a good addition to the Indian team. “Rayudu has been hitting the ball really well and winning matches for us. If someone is doing well, no matter how old he is, he deserves a chance,” he said.
CSK have had to adapt to the conditions here in Pune after all their home matches were transferred but ‘Bhajji’ dismissed the notion that they are still trying to adjust to their new surroundings. “I’ve played all my cricket in India and we are familiar with these conditions. There is a strong breeze that comes from one side in this stadium and it is very important to utilise it. A lot of the teams that come here are not aware of this,” he said.