Hayden names Bhajji ahead of Kumble in All Stars XI
NEW DELHI: Statistics indicate that Anil Kumble is the greatest spinner India has produced. But in his autobiography, Standing My Ground, former Australia opening batsman Mathew Hayden prefers Harbhajan Singh in his All Stars playing XI.
"I have gone for the man who caused me the most trouble at the crease. He was an into-the-wicket spinner, using the sharp revolutions he put on the ball to get bite off the wicket and cause problems. His doosra was a priceless weapon," writes Hayden, explaining why he selects Harbhajan as the second spinner of his team alongside Muthiah Muralitharan, and ahead of Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori and Saqlain Mushtaq.
"Harbhajan brought an intensity and controversy to the contest that put bums on seats. There was a real 'game on' feel to anything he was involved with. He could be impetuous at times and he could make you feel impetuous. But I'd still pick Harbhajan for his super skills."
Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are the three other Indians in the list. "There's something magnetic about Sehwag. The core of his appeal to me is his natural aggression and his cool demeanour: he''ll smoke one through the covers with imperious timing, then look up with total nonchalance as if to say, "What was the big deal about that? I do it for a living, you know." the crowd will be going crazy, yet he shows about as much emotion as a man who's jut licked a stamp and put it on a letter. On our 2004 tour of India we spent more time talking about him any other player, Tendulkar included."
Hayden writes that "Sachin and Lara were the most skillful batsmen" he ever saw. But he is more voluminous praising Rahul Dravid. He commends the Bangalore batsman for his "texbook purity" and "great concentration." "In my era, he was the Bjorn Borg of cricket, absolute ice under pressure," says the Australian opener who also played for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
He recalls a delightful meeting with Dravid in a bookshop at ! the Sand ton Sun complex in Johannesburg during the second IPL. "We had a fascinating chat, which started with a laugh at how old-fashioned we both were. Two cricketers meeting in a bookshop? You wouldn't pick it these days. Why read a book when you can play with the latest gadget? We felt a bit like two old rock stars meeting in a shop that sold records. We chatted a couple of hours and he was such absorbing company that I could have stayed there all day."
In his autobiography, Hayden also mentions several controversial events of his playing days. The Australian opener offers his own take why India captain Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh did not play the Nagpur Test during the 2004 Test series.
"When Ganguly and Harbhajan went out to see the deck a couple of days before the game, they looked like farmers inspecting crops after a hail storm. We predicted neither would play, and they did not. Ganguly withdrew with a leg-muscle injury that flared up suddenly, and Harbhajan had an even more sudden dose of food poisoning. We put their ailments down to acute cases of 'greentrackitis', where you develop a severe intolerance to green wickets likely to give you nothing as a spin bowler and plenty of headaches as a batsman," says Hayden.
"I have gone for the man who caused me the most trouble at the crease. He was an into-the-wicket spinner, using the sharp revolutions he put on the ball to get bite off the wicket and cause problems. His doosra was a priceless weapon," writes Hayden, explaining why he selects Harbhajan as the second spinner of his team alongside Muthiah Muralitharan, and ahead of Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori and Saqlain Mushtaq.
"Harbhajan brought an intensity and controversy to the contest that put bums on seats. There was a real 'game on' feel to anything he was involved with. He could be impetuous at times and he could make you feel impetuous. But I'd still pick Harbhajan for his super skills."
Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are the three other Indians in the list. "There's something magnetic about Sehwag. The core of his appeal to me is his natural aggression and his cool demeanour: he''ll smoke one through the covers with imperious timing, then look up with total nonchalance as if to say, "What was the big deal about that? I do it for a living, you know." the crowd will be going crazy, yet he shows about as much emotion as a man who's jut licked a stamp and put it on a letter. On our 2004 tour of India we spent more time talking about him any other player, Tendulkar included."
Hayden writes that "Sachin and Lara were the most skillful batsmen" he ever saw. But he is more voluminous praising Rahul Dravid. He commends the Bangalore batsman for his "texbook purity" and "great concentration." "In my era, he was the Bjorn Borg of cricket, absolute ice under pressure," says the Australian opener who also played for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
He recalls a delightful meeting with Dravid in a bookshop at ! the Sand ton Sun complex in Johannesburg during the second IPL. "We had a fascinating chat, which started with a laugh at how old-fashioned we both were. Two cricketers meeting in a bookshop? You wouldn't pick it these days. Why read a book when you can play with the latest gadget? We felt a bit like two old rock stars meeting in a shop that sold records. We chatted a couple of hours and he was such absorbing company that I could have stayed there all day."
In his autobiography, Hayden also mentions several controversial events of his playing days. The Australian opener offers his own take why India captain Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh did not play the Nagpur Test during the 2004 Test series.
"When Ganguly and Harbhajan went out to see the deck a couple of days before the game, they looked like farmers inspecting crops after a hail storm. We predicted neither would play, and they did not. Ganguly withdrew with a leg-muscle injury that flared up suddenly, and Harbhajan had an even more sudden dose of food poisoning. We put their ailments down to acute cases of 'greentrackitis', where you develop a severe intolerance to green wickets likely to give you nothing as a spin bowler and plenty of headaches as a batsman," says Hayden.
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