Harbhajan eyeing quick return to cricket

Discarded off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who is out of action due to a shinbone injury, on Thursday said he will return to competitive cricket soon.

"I am recovering from my injury. I will exercise here in Pune for four days and I will also undergo a three-week training at the National Cricket Academy. After that I will return to competitive cricket," he told reporters here.

Asked whether injuries to cricketers had increased due to too much cricket, the veteran cricketer, who has taken 406 wickets in 98 Tests and 259 wickets in 229 ODIs, replied in the negative.

"Injuries depend upon the capacity of any player. Injuries may vary from player to player. How can one predict about injuries?" he asked.

Asserting that he was optimistic of a comeback into the Indian team, Harbhajan said he was eager to wear the Team India jersey as soon as possible.

However, he refused to comment on India's disastrous performance in the ongoing Test series in Australia.

Harbhajan, who is the goodwill ambassador of the wrestling show 'Ring ka King - Wrestling ka Mahayuddh', was present here for the formal launch of the show.

Noted TNA wrestlers Jeff Jarrett, Matt Morgan, Scott Steiner and Monster Abyss, who are among the 30 Indian and international wrestling superstars to participate in the show to be aired on Colors, were also present on the occasion.

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Harbhajan Singh in weighing up again

Harbhajan Singh could be back in contention when the Indian selectors meet on Friday to select the squad for the first Test beside West Indies.

The Indian off-spinner was drop from the ODI series next to England after a unfortunate show over the last few months.

Young Bangalore off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, having claimed 10 wickets in the 5-0 whitewash over England in ODI series, has made a bold statement next to leg-spinner Amit Mishra and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Harbhajan, after a poor outing in England had an honest show in the recently completed Challengers bagging five wickets from three matches and seven from six outings in the Nokia Champions League Twenty20.

It is no secret that the most important India spinner has the backing of skipper MS Dhoni and the senior players which is sure to weigh winning the selectors as it leftovers to be seen whether they go for a three or four-member spin attack.

Sachin Tendulkar was advice four weeks rest after a toe wound ahead of the ODI series in England and the selectors will hope that he is fit along with another senior Virender Sehwag.

Sehwag has played a few matches for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament after undergo a shoulder surgery and it remains to be seen whether the selectors find him fit sufficient for addition in the team.

The in-form Virat Kohli after an excellent one-day series will be a strong competitor to return to the Indian Test squad.

Ishant Sharma who had continued a ligament wound in his left ankle during the Birmingham Test, played domestic T20 matches for Delhi and should be back in contention if he had procure a fitness certificate from NCA.

If Ishant is fit, he would lead the attack next to Praveen Kumar as Sreesanth, R Vinay Kumar and Varun Aaron would clash it out for the other slots.

The Test squad would be chosen for the first match next to the West Indies at Ferozeshah Kotla from November 6.

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Harbhajan Singh failed to join in ODI return

Harbhajan Singh unsuccessful to make a reappear as the selection committee retains the same squad for the outstanding three ODIs, following a meeting at the Kotla on Monday.

With young spinners like R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who also is a honest bat, doing a good job next to England in this home series, the ignore is a clear sign to the senior off spinner to crush it out in the home circuit and recover form and fitness.

Harbhajan had a hot time in England newly before he came back home following an abdominal strain halfway throughout the tour. He appears to be slowly receiving back to wicket-taking ways in the Nokia Champions League T20, in which he led Mumbai Indians to victory.

Meanwhile, the T20 game on Oct 29th, though, sees changes with the out-of-favour Yusuf Pathan coming in and Robin Uthappa getting another chance to show his batting explosive, following an inspiring Challenger Trophy. Gautam Gambhir, meanwhile, has ask for a break to get married.


ODI squad: MS Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Manoj Tiwary, Varun Aaron, Rahul Sharma, S Arvind

T20 squad: Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Raina, Rahane, Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Jadeja, Ashwin, Praveen, Vinay, Yadav, Tiwary, Aaron, Robin Uthappa, Sharma, Arvind.

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Decision to fall Harbhajan right

Former India captain Kapil Dev has backed the selectors' judgment to drop Harbhajan Singh from the squad for the first two ODIs against England next month.

"From the point of view of country's interest, nothing is amazing. If they have dropped him, it must be for the betterment of the team," the famous all-rounder said at the Dilip Sardesai Memorial lecture.

"You do get hurt if a spinner of the calibre of Harbhajan is dropped. But if his exclusion is helpful for the team, then I'm happy. I'm not going to say anything against the selectors."

Kapil also supported the move to include young leg- spinner Rahul Sharma in the side on the basis of his performance in the fourth season of the IPL.

"IPL is also a part of the country's cricket. Why think of it any other way? IPL/ICL is the way through which we get our cricketers. Without IPL, we wouldn't have got players like the Pathans (Yusuf and Irfan)," he added.

To a query, he said there was nothing like "senior players" and only performances should be taken into account while selecting a team.

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Harbhajan: We didn't justify to win

Mumbai Indians skipper Harbhajan Singh said they didn't merit winning, claiming Trinidad and Tobago were the better side on show Monday.

"I must pat on the back Darren and his team. They were the better side. We didn't justify winning. We didn't bat sensibly," Harbhajan said after the Indians edge out the West Indian side.

The India off-spinner said Mumbai Indians played too many needless shots and unless they better their batting, they will be knocking out of the tournament soon.

"We needed to tick the ball around, but we looked to play too many shots. We just weren't there with the bat. If we keep batting like this, we won't be here for long," he said.

"We won today, but if we want to be there for the semis, we can't keep playing this kind of cricket."

Trinidad & Tobago skipper Daren Ganga said the beat has crushed his team as they had fought really hard but still ended on the losing side.

"Unacceptable, the result. The guys are devastated.

Imagine the way we fought, but didn't come out winning.

Definitely ordinary batting, we show a lot of heart in the field," he said.

"That was the first thing, to play for the Super Over.

It's unlucky, Denesh couldn't hit the stumps, these things happen in cricket," he added.

Man-of-the-match Ravi Rampaul said his side showed a lot of character to defend a total of 98 and though they finished up on the behind side, they would look to make use of the next three games.

"Get the yorkers in, don't go for many runs. Being bowled out for 98 we needed early wickets, so I went out forceful," said Rampaul, who took three wickets for 17 runs.

"We show character and heart, and we have three games to follow. I found little additional bounce, and the shape, so the pitches help," he added.

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Injured Gambhir probable to return home

With his indistinct vision deteriorating to improve, Indian opener Gautam Gambhir could be stuffing his bags to return home.

In what might be a big blow to the movement of the world champions in the approaching one-day series next to England, Gambhir looks set to undergo the same fate as Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag who either came or joined the Indian squad only to leave upset having contributed little to the team's cause.

India were whitewashed 4-0 in the Test series; lost their number one Test rankings and are in danger of suffering a similar incapacitating fate in the one-day series, starting with the first game in Chester-le-Street on September 3.

Gambhir had backpedalled to catch a pull by Kevin Pietersen at mid-on on the second day of the final Test at the Oval on August 19, but trip and fell on his head, a fall which resulted in blurred vision.

He didn't open either innings of the Oval Test and came in down the order, causal little by way of runs.

Since then, he has visit doctors and had MRI scans which have given him a clean bill of health. However, Gambhir is still far from well.

Gambhir's case is similar to the one suffer by South African fast bowler Dale Steyn during the Champions League T20 last year when he too fell on his head as he backpedalled to try and catch Michael Hussey in a semi-final clash between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Steyn's MRI scans also show little, but the pace man took 3-4 weeks to regain full fitness. With Gambhir potentially out for a similar length of time, he is also now a doubt for when England pay a return visit to India in early October.

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India can be able to number two in ODIs

Going by the present form, it looks highly improbable but if India strike England by a 4-1 margin or better in the upcoming one-day series, they can scale to second spot from third in the ICC ranking chart.

World champions India (117) are placed third behind Sri Lanka (119) in the list, head by Australia (130)

Australia's 3-2 series win has limited Sri Lanka to earn only one rating point which, in turn, has given India a chance to get back the second position.

To get the number-two positions, India will have to beat England by a 4-1 scoreline, or whitewash the hosts in the five-match series, initial at Chester-le-Street on September three.

Meanwhile, in the rankings for ODI batsmen, Virat Kohli has enter into the top-five with a gain of one position and sachin Tendulkar re-entered into the top-10 with a similar gain.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost a place to find himself at number nine. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is the only Indian bowler in the top-10 as he missing one position to be at 10.

Australia's fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson, who the length of with Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga was the most important wicket-taker in the recent series with 11, has jump four places to maintain third position while Malinga, who recorded the third hat-trick of his career in Monday's ODI, has jump 19 places to claim 11th position.

Dough Bollinger's nine wickets in the series has help him return to the top-10 in seventh place after vault 15 places while Brett Lee has been satisfied with a jump of four places after his eight wickets in four matches which has put him just at the back Malinga in 14th position.

Graeme Swann of England is on top of the bowling table but leads New Zealand's Daniel Vettori by just six points.

In the list of batsmen, former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena has return to the top-20 in 17th position after increasing five places following his series contribution of 180 runs which made him the fourth most winning batsman in the series behind Michael Clarke (242), Ricky Ponting (196) and Shane Watson (185).

While Watson and Ponting have retained their third and 15th positions, correspondingly, Clarke has moved up two places to seventh place.

The batting table is head by South Africa's Hashim Amla while his captain, AB de Villiers, is in second position.

There is no modify in the top three of the rankings for all-rounders which are still led by Watson.

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Harbhajan: I am existing for WI tour

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Thursday said that he would be accessible for the Indian cricket team's accommodating tour of West Indies but not aware of the plans of other senior players.

"I have no idea from where the news (of senior players opting out of West Indies tour) has poured in. As far as I am concerned I am available for the tour," Harbhajan told journalists ahead of his IPL side Mumbai Indians' match against Rajasthan Royals on Friday.

"As far others are worried neither I have talked to anybody and nor any body has talked to me. We will be playing three tests there and I don't want to miss any of those," he said.

Talking about the winning streak of the Mumbai Indians, Harbhajan said that he was happy the way things were going.

"I am happy with the way belongings have gone till now. We have been throughout uneven patches but one or the other has been clever to pull us through. Like in the last match Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds batted well to help us to sensible score which could be protected," he said.

Asked about the good form of Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne, Harbhajan said, "He is great cricketer and best spinner. I myself would be talking to him and get tips so that I can extend my international career." Harbhajan praise his team-mate Ambati Rayudu, saying that the young person is a "special talent".

"It would also be a confront for youngsters like Rayudu to face a great spinner (in Warne). He (Rayudu) is a particular talent and we always knew that. He was unluckily lost in between but lately he has been performing arts well. He is capable of filling in the big shoes of great Indian batsmen like VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid," he added.

Talking about his own role in the side, Harbhajan said that it had not distorted much. "Me and seniors like Sachin try and build the team like an element and inspire confidence in the youngsters by telling them to be part of think tank," said Harbhajan.

Asked about the sharp fielding of Mumbai Indians which has help them win a few matches, Harbhajan said that the players have respond to the drills of field coach Jonty Rhodes.

"We have South African Jonty Rhodes as the fielding coach and boys have respond well. In the preceding match it was the fielding rather my five wickets haul which had won the match for us."

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