Australians always used to stay away from Harbhajan Singh: Suresh Raina

There are certain players who give their best while performing against certain teams. For instance, VVS Laxman used to perform exceptionally well against Australia. Similarly, playing against Australia brought the best of Harbhajan Singh. The off-spinner had a tremendous record against the Aussies.

During an Instagram live session on Saturday, Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan got together. The two Indian players ended up talking about the impact which the Jalandhar spinner had on the Australian batting unit. The left-handed batsman credited Singh for winning matches against Australia. The Uttar Pradesh batsman also revealed that the Australians used to stay away from Harbhajan Singh. He jokingly said they would hold their ears every time he heard the name of Bhajji.

Suresh Raina lauds Harbhajan’s performances in Australia

“He’s (Harbhajan) a fighter, won us matches in Australia. Australians always used to stay away from Harbhajan Singh. They used to hold their ears upon hearing Harbhajan Singh’s name,” said Raina during the Instagram live session with Irfan Pathan.

Raina then praised the off-spinner for being one of the best in the business. He called Harbhajan a legend who has played 100 Test matches.

“Bhajju paa was one of the legends of the game, name me a better offspinner than him in world cricket, communication should’ve been better with him too. He’s a legend, played 100 test matches,” said Irfan.

The Punjab off-spinner’s most notable performance came during the 2001 India-Australia Test series. He picked up 31 wickets in three Test matches. In 18 matches which played against the Kangaroos, he managed to pick up 95 wickets.

A few days back, the 39-year-old spinner joked about how former Australian captain Ricky Ponting used to face difficulty in facing him. He recalled how easy it was for him to the great batsman. He shared a story of the time when the two players were playing for the Mumbai Indians and in the nets, Ponting would get out to him.

“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,” Harbhajan had told Rohit Sharma in an Instagram live session.