I didn't trust my technique after Harbhajan Singh dismissed me for the first time: Ricky Ponting

Former Australian batsman Ricky Ponting said that Harbhajan Singh gave him quite a few jitters during the Test series on Indian soil in 2001. The three-match series was a historic one as the home team came back from 0-1 down to win the series. Ponting had a horrendous series with the bat in hand, scoring a mere 17 runs in five innings at a dismal average of 3.4.

Going down the memory lane, Ponting admitted that he had difficulties in facing the Turbanator. Ponting recalled the first Test in Mumbai where he couldn’t open his account in the first innings. Harbhajan found his inside-edge and Shiv Sundar Das took a sharp catch at short leg.

“Well, Harbhajan is the obvious one. I had some unbelievable battles with him. And probably, more often than not, he had the better of me. Certainly, in Test cricket. I think he has got me out as many times as anybody in Test cricket,” Ponting was quoted as saying in ‘DRS with Ash’- a show hosted by Indian all-rounder Ravi Ashwin.

I was trying to find a different way to play, says Ricky Ponting

“I go out to bat and just pushed forward to one, got an inside-edge on to the pad, caught at short leg and I was walking off thinking, I haven’t done much wrong there and I am out,” he stated.

The dismissal got to his nerves to such an extent that he started doubting his technique big time. In the series, Ponting tried every way out to get out of jail but managed to have a top score of 11.

“And from that moment on, I didn’t trust my technique. So, I was trying to find a different way to play. And the next innings, I ran down the wicket first ball and got stumped. And then, I tried to sweep, got a bottom-edge on the first one, popped up to short leg,” Ponting added.

In the series, Harbhajan was the standout bowler, picking up as many as 32 wickets. During the second Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, he became the first Indian bowler with a hat-trick in Test cricket. Later, Irfan Pathan and Jasprit Bumrah would also go on to take hat-tricks.