Harbhajan Singh managed to rediscovere his form in the sixth edition of the IPL by relying on flight and the feisty off-spinner attributes his fantastic run in the tourney to former spin partner Anil Kumble.
"I am proud to have made a significant contribution in Mumbai Indians' triumphant run in IPL 6 and Anil bhai deserves the lion's share of the credit. As the Team Mentor, his watchful eyes and invaluable inputs helped me rediscover my old touch," Harbhajan, who finished as third highest wicket-taker with 24 wickets told PTI in an interview today.
"Since Anil bhai retired in 2008, we haven't spend this lengthy amount of time discussing cricket. He asked me why I was trying to do things which don't come naturally to me.
"He (Kumble) told me that my strength is bounce which I extract and the drift in my deliveries. Rather than trying to push the deliveries fast, I relied more on flight and it worked wonders," the senior off-spinner said.
Not only did he get a bagful of wickets but he also had the best economy rate of 6.51 among the top-10 bowlers having sent down highest number of overs (70).
"What was satisfying was that I bowled a lot of overs in the Powerplays which gave me enormous confidence. In T20 containment isn't good enough as you need to take wickets. During the tournament, I always felt that I was in my element throughout. I was able to get wickets when my team needed."
Harbhajan was confident of staging a comeback into the national team
"I am confident of making a comeback. I still have a lot of international cricket left in me. With this performance, I have been able to prove my critics who had already written me off. I have let the ball do all the talking and my performance speaks for itself. Hope those critics have better things to do now," said the bowler who has nearly 700 international scalps.
