The moment Indian Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav claimed the hat-trick against Australia on September 21 at the Eden Gardens, the country erupted in joy praising the young lad, who was playing just his 9th ODI. He not only made the game memorable but also turned Harbhajan nostalgic, who had taken a hat-trick back in 2001 against the Aussies on the same ground. That bowling performance by Bhajji made him one of the prominent faces in the Indian squad. And now, after 16 years, Kuldeep is all set to live that life.
While speaking to the news agency, PTI, Harbhajan recalled the moments from the 2001 Border-Gavaskar Trophy where his 3-wickets shattered the Australian guests. He said,
Wahi opposition, wahi lamha, wahi ground aur ek spinner jiska age bhi utna (The same opposition, same ground, another spinner of the same age). Somehow as I was watching Kuldeep bowl, my mind travelled back to that afternoon (2001 March) at the Eden Gardens. It is a great achievement.
Congratulating Kuldeep for his remarkable feat, Bhajji said,
For a young spinner, when you get a hat-trick early in your career, your confidence shoots up to a different level. This is a milestone which each and every cricketer savours for the rest of his life.
He also spoke about the chances of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s comeback into the ODI squad. He said,
At the moment, these two boys (Kuldeep and Chahal) are really doing well. For Jaddu and Ashwin, it will be an onerous task to make a comeback in the ODI side.
Talking about whether India was all prepared for World Cup 2019, Harbhajan added,
I don’t know about the World Cup. It is quite far away to be very honest but they are doing really well and I am really proud of them. Let’s all wait and watch, how far these guys can go and continue doing well for India.
In 2001, Harbhajan took a stunning hat-trick against Australia at the Eden Gardens during the 2nd Test of the series. He dismissed Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne on day 1 of the game. Australia failed to chase the grand total of 384 runs and lost the game by 171 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja is one of the 15 members of the current ODI squad. He was included a day before the first ODI as Axar Patel was dropped due to injury. However, he had been benched for the first two ODIs.
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