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Two back-to-back centuries and Harbhajan is letting his bat do the talking. He has been controversy’s favourite child, but there’s a method to the madness, as Veenu Sandhu discovers

Navjot Sidhu once called him ‘a wily old fox with a bag full of tricks’. The ‘fox’ has now pulled another trick out of his bag. He’s shown the country that ‘Bhajji Can Bat’, and how! Off spinner Harbhajan Singh has been a bundle of surprises in the recently concluded India-New Zealand Test series. When he scored his first ever hundred in Ahmedabad and each one of his team mates in the dressing room stood up and applauded, a cheeky radio jockey on one of the FM radio channels in New Delhi remarked: “What has time come to, we now have cricketers like Harbhajan hitting a century!” But, back in Ahmedabad, Bhajji’s team was relieved. Together with the classy VVS Laxman, he had helped India pull out of its slide in the first Test against the visitors.

In the very next match, Bhajji did it again, this time in Hyderabad. As the 30-year-old bowler made history by becoming the only batsman at number 8 position to score consecutive Test centuries, there were no cheeky comments. Only admiration. And some good-natured ribbing by commentator Ravi Shastri. “Who knows he might go back to the dressing room and tell Sachin, ‘Watch out, only 47 more to go’,” Shastri joked.

Before that hundred, when a tense Harbhajan seemed to be silently urging his batting partner S Sreesanth to play cautiously, Shastri had remarked, “He’s probably telling Sreesanth, ‘Stick on, forget that I ever slapped you’.” Given that he’s once been at the receiving end of the belligerent off spinner’s infamous temper, it wasn’t an easy situation for Sreesanth. “Sreesanth might have been more tense of the two,” cricket commentator and writer Harsha Bhogle says. Though, he adds that people read too much into that incident.

But Harbhajan Singh’s reputation and antics as an aggressive cricketer often tend to overshadow his achievements. In his first ever international ODI series in 1998, he earned a fine and a reprimand for getting into a spat with Australian batsman Ricky Ponting. In fact, ever since he’s had frequent confrontations with various members of the Australian squad — Andrew Symonds, opener Mathew Hayden who called Harbhajan an “obnoxious little weed”; and Adam Gilchrist who he said was no ‘saint’.

He’s had an uncomfortable relationship with the police. Last year, he was challaned for driving his Hummer without a registration number. In 2002, he got into an altercation with the police in Guwahati and injured his elbow. There have been run-ins with the Sikh clergy too — he was criticised for literally letting his hair down for a Royal Stag advertisement. Harbhajan apologised and later when he appeared on the ramp for another Seagram’s brand, Blenders Pride, he wore a black headgear. Then, there have been rather unexpected moments of spontaneity, like the time he lifted Nita Ambani when Mumbai Indians, won the IPL 2010 semi finals.

“Harbhajan’s aggression comes from his confidence,” says Sidhu, whose first encounter with him was years ago at a Ranji match against Himachal Pradesh. Harbhajan was around 16 and Sidhu was completely bowled over by his aggressive deliveries. In the years that followed, Sidhu recalls how the man who would have Team India’s dressing room in splits with his mimicry, would also hide from the media because his English was poor. “But he learnt fast, whether it was English or the trick of tapping his potential as a bowler and a batsman,” says Sidhu. The latest scorecard is proof. He’s now the only Indian to get 300 runs and 10 wickets in a three-match Test series. Others like Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Vinoo Mankad have done this, but those were longer series.

His performance has some analysts projecting him as India’s potential all-rounder for the World Cup. “But the sooner we perish that thought, the better it will be,” says Bhogle. “Just as we don’t pick stocks over their performances in a week — I hope not — so, too, we must be careful about classifying players after one or two knocks,” he says adding that Harbhajan is a valuable number 8 and “we must rejoice in that”.Bhogle also thinks he could do with a bit “more tenacity, the kind Kumble had”. It would help make Harbhajan more consistent, he says.

Just like some of the brands which have stood by him, through the controversies. There’s Reebok, and there’s also Seagram’s Royal Stag, which has been with Harbhajan since 2002. The latter’s tagline ‘Make It Large’ goes with the offie’s profile — rise from humble beginnings. Harbhajan was born into a modest family in Jalandhar and grew up with five sisters. His father, who owned a ball-bearing manufacturing unit, encouraged him to pursue his passion.

If Harbhajan’s is an aggressive brand of cricket, the brands he endorses want to be associated with that aggression. “Neo Sports found a suitable brand ambassador in him for their pitch ‘Dekh Lega India’ last year,” says Harbhajan’s business manager Sangeet Shirodkar. “He’s a fighter and a character with enormous stature and humility,” says Prasana Krishnan, COO, NEO Sports, who feels Harbhajan has been underrated.

Pepsi has just signed him on again. “And he’s recently struck a deal with a high-premium international luxury product which stands for sheer excellence,” says Shirodkar while refusing to divulge more. Some time back, he also launched Icore’s medicated range of toothpaste and toothbrush targeted at the rural and mid-urban market.

Last year, in the first such deal in the history of Indian cricket, Harbhajan sold the licensing rights for his name as a brand to Delhi-based License India. The company then said it hoped to roll out the first of ‘Brand Harbhajan’ products by the end of 2009, but that is yet to happen. Gaurav Marya, president of Bradford License India, says the process has required detailing and time and the products — Bhajji sporting goods, restaurant chain (Bhajji da Dhabba), apparel etc — “should be ready to roll by the coming year”.

Those who swear by Harbhajan aren’t bothered by his ability to end up in one controversy after the other. They view these many episodes as a result of passion — even patriotism. “Harbhajan is not known to put things delicately,” says an official with a brand Harbhajan endorses. “He simply gives it back — whether it is with the ball or with words.” He recalls an incident when Australia was touring India some time after Ponting’s biography was released. Someone asked Harbhajan about it and the Turbanator, with his trademark flamboyance quipped: “While they were writing books, we were practising.”

That, typically, is Harbhajan.