MUMBAI: It was Friday in Mumbai, and the Brabourne Stadium’s CK Naidu Hall was abuzz with emotion as members of the Legends Club gathered to celebrate Sachin Tendulkar’s 53rd birthday. What followed were important conversations, stories told, generous dips in the pools of nostalgia, and sharp ideas about where the game was headed.At the center of the conversation sat off-spin great Harbhajan Singh, India’s veteran of 103 Tests and owner of 417 Test scalps. He is also the winner of the World Cup in 2007 and 2011. IPL A stalwart, a politician, a broadcaster, a YouTuber, and, at heart, an unapologetic lover of Test cricket and true pitches.As Legends Club president and former India player Yejurvinder Singh welcomed Harbhajan and MCA president Ajinkya Naik, he also spoke to the spinner about how cricket has changed since the days when the 60-over match was approached as a mini-Test. Harbhajan, after all, represented a very different era, an almost unforgiving era for bowlers. He arrived at a time when cricket was already changing. The one-day cricket calendar had lost its teeth, T20 was an idea waiting to explode and short boundaries and big bats meant long faces for spinners who were being asked to be defensive rather than threatening.
Bhaji, though, was also one who graduated from the rigors of Test cricket.Harbhajan said that Test cricket tests you in every possible way. “Playing 100 Tests was the biggest achievement of my career,” he added, stressing that playing 100 Tests became his goal when he saw Kapil Dev reach the mark, but doubted whether many would achieve it in the modern era.Heads nodded in agreement, though the discussion inevitably turned to modern cricket’s obsession with shorter formats, sixes and money-making leagues.So, where does Test cricket stand today?Harbhajan’s answer was firm. “Save Test cricket by playing more Test cricket,” he said, adding, “And by developing better pitches. A match should last five days, not two-and-a-half days. If we look at the Ashes, the top series, games last five days. When India play Australia, why should Tests end in two-and-a-half days? We had a Test between India and England where we saw five overs.” I remember how many overs I needed to bowl for Test five.“Like the 2001 Eden Gardens Test, where Harbhajan steered India back to a deadlocked series against Australia. It was a reminder of what five-day cricket enables: a change of pace, a broken morale, a restored belief.Spin bowling also became a focal point. Harbhajan lamented how art has been undermined. “Spinners have to spin the ball,” he said bluntly. “If you don’t spin it, you make life easy for the batsmen. Whether it’s a T20 or a Test, the fundamentals don’t change.”He talked about mentality as much as mechanics, about how spinners need courage because they can’t do bouncers or yorkers. Their only weapon, he insisted, is deception: in the air, off the field. “The hair from your hand should fall down in a half moon shape.” he stressed.Will these attributes help if they bowl to Vaibhav Suryavanshi? “I will have an attitude. I will try to get him first ball. Save yourself and not bowling flat. My aggressiveness may have gotten me into trouble, but that’s all I know,” he asserted.The subject quickly turned to another child prodigy turned legend. Birthday Boy Tendulkar. Harbhajan spoke of him not as a distant icon but as a senior colleague and brother. One’s discipline and endlessly available. “On the field he was the great Tendulkar,” Harbhajan said and added with a wicked smile, “but in the dressing room, he was always a paji, giving juniors like me and Zaheer Khan the freedom to throw him in the jacuzzi in New Zealand after winning the Test in 2009.“The conversation briefly shifted to the rules of the game and whether he would change them to strike a better balance between bat and ball. Harbhajan quipped that just like a bowler is banned from bowling after two sixes, I want batsmen to be banned after two sixes.He quickly turned serious though. He said that the law is not the problem. There are wickets. If you build good wickets, balance comes naturally. He cited spells like Mohammad Shami in Lucknow for LSG vs RR and the MI-CSK game, where quality spinners like Aqeel Hussain and Noor Ahmed produced results. “The best T20 matches are often games where 160 or 170 are defended,” he felt.In history-soaked Brabourne, the message was clear: formats may change, leagues may open, but cricketers with the patience, skill and courage to challenge the game will rule.
