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For all the stars and superstars in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the spotlight undoubtedly will be on India's mercurial and temperamental spinner Harbhajan Singh. Ever since the incident-infested Sydney Test in January, the Punjab off-spinner has been the most scrutinised player from either side by the pundits, media and fans alike.
In spite of it all, Harbhajan has made it clear that he's not backing off from a challenge.
In an interview to Fox Sports yesterday, Harbhajan said: "When I play for my country I go out there to win games, I'm not there to make friends. So you'll expect the same sort of fighting spirit. I am very passionate about my game and I get involved in the game. I want to do everything right and I want to win each and every game for my country. That's the way I am and that's never going to change."
Tactics
For long it has been Australia's tactics to target the opponents they feel can be a threat to their chances. Harbhajan falls into that category, certainly in Indian conditions.
If the off-spinner settles into a rhythm, the Aussies know how dangerous he can be as they found out in the 2001 series (32 wickets in three Tests). Add to it his psychological dominance over their batting mainstay and skipper Ricky Ponting.
Call it gamesmanship or sledging, the Aussies use it as a weapon effectively against their foes. Given his volatile temperament, Harbhajan is easily the most vulnerable of the home team players to fall prey to smart gamesmanship.
It would be surprising if Ponting and Co are not tempted to get him to react as he did in Sydney.
Post the S Sreesanth-slapgate, the Aussies have more ammo to deal in gamesmanship and fire jibes at him.
Lalchand Rajput, who incidentally was Harbhajan's coach when both the incidents occurred, agreed the off-spinner will have to be wary of the Australians trying to unsettle him. Rajput was India's acting coach in the 2007-08 series Down Under and was Mumbai Indians' guardian when his stand-in skipper Harbhajan slapped Kings XI Punjab's Sreesanth after the Indian Premier League game at Mohali.
"It's their (Aussies) strategy. They may target him. He has to be careful and not to fall prey to that," Rajput told MiD DAY.
"If they try to instigate him, he shouldn't keep his head down he should give it back, but not overdo it and cross the limit."
More mature
Rajput observed Harbhajan has learnt from his mistakes and is a more mature player now. "We are in touch. Even during the Sri Lanka series we were in touch. He's a much smarter cricketer now. He's realised it (where he went wrong). Mistakes have cost him a lot. He's a professional and knows how to carry on with the game," said Rajput.
The former batsman felt people misunderstand his competitive nature to over-the-top aggression. "Harbhajan is a very competitive player; he wants to be one-up on his opponent, which is fair enough," said Rajput.
"He needs to focus on his game and shouldn't pay attention to the Aussies," were Rajput's words of advice for the Turbanator to ensure a productive and controversy-free series.
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