WI vs IND | Jasprit Bumrah should be as grateful to Kohli as I am to Sadagopan Ramesh, says Harbhajan Singh

09/02/2019

Harbhajan Singh believes that Jasprit Bumrah should be forever grateful to his Virat Kohli’s 'gut feeling', without which the pacer couldn't have bagged the hat-trick. The off-spinner likened that to the 2001 Test when Sadagopan Ramesh took an incredible catch to help him take the hat-trick in 2001.

Harbhajan, who is the first-ever Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket, was all praises for Bumrah who achieved the milestone and hence became only the third Indian(Irfan Pathan was the second) to do so. In the historic Eden Gardens Test match in 2001, Harbhajan’s hat-trick (Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne) against the dominant Aussies become a series-defining moment. On Saturday, Bumrah dismissed Darren Bravo, Samarah Brooks, and Roston Chase in successive deliveries and Bhajji couldn't help recall the moment from 18 years ago. He also drew comparisons between the two hat-tricks

“This hat-trick belongs to Virat as much as it belongs to Bumrah. The bowler wasn’t convinced but the skipper had a gut feeling. What if Virat wouldn’t have gone for that DRS? It was a brilliant call by the skipper which complemented his magnificent effort,” Harbhajan told PTI on Sunday.

“I remember that I discussed with Dada (Sourav Ganguly) and we decided to keep it on stumps and try for a third leg before but Warne flicked it.

“Now to be honest, Ramesh wasn’t the most athletic of the guys in that team. Yet at the forward short-leg, he pulled off that stunner with a less than split second reaction time. Whenever I have later met Ramesh, I told him, ‘buddy my hat-trick belongs to you',” Harbhajan reminisced.

Bumrah has become the talk of the town with the way he is moving everyone behind in his career and has now 61 Test wickets in just seven matches. Heaping praise on him, Harbhajan said India are blessed to have a bowler like him.

“That’s why I believe that some things happen that come together and such a beautiful thing happens. It was Ramesh’s brilliance then and it’s Virat’s conviction now,” said the owner of 711 international wickets.

“Indian cricket is blessed to have a match-winner like Bumrah. This hat-trick will only help his legend grow but even without that he is an incredible performer. I mean 5 wickets in 7 overs in last game and 6 wickets in 9 overs in this game. You can’t ask for more. He is a rare diamond,” said Harbhajan.

“A hat-trick is always a praiseworthy feat but if it happens in Test cricket, it’s all the more creditable,” he believes.