Harbhajan Singh is trying too hard in comeback: Venkatapathy Raju

New Delhi Harbhajan Singhs lackluster performance in the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka has put him under pressure and former India tweaker Venkatapathi Raju feels the veteran offspinners poor form is the result of trying too hard to prove his worth on comebackIn a match dominated by spin Harbhajan picked just one wicket in his 25 overs during the course of two innings as India lost by 63 runs to go 10 up in the threematch series He went through that rehabilitation phase while correcting his action Then he was out of contention for a while and now when he has made a comeback he is probably trying too hard But There is nothing lacking on the experience front He knows what to do in which condition Raju told PTI in an interviewHarbhajan Singh Pic AFPBut thats the problem when you make a comeback and you are trying to prove yourself You try to do something more and that sometimes doesnt work the former leftarm spinner added Raju 46 who was part of the last Indian side which won a Test series 22 years back in Sri Lanka said the threespinner theory works only when the batsmen get runs on boardWhen India went in with three spinners there were batsmen like Virender Sehwag who would put up runs in the board A score of 400 always helps Then you had bowlers who were allrounders This team is a young team probably they will gain experience and get better he saidI was part of the team that won against Sri Lanka under Mohammad Azharuddin in 1993 See their strength has also been spin They had the great Muttiah Muralitharan but also had a Chaminda Vaas who could come and pick wickets And they were all good players of spinBut then our players were also playing domestic cricket and were used to those tracks So whenever we hosted Australia or England we put up more than 400500 runs on the board he addedPraising Rangana Herath who bagged seven wickets to help bundle India out for 112 in the visitors 176run chase and Tharindu Kaushal for their exploits in Galle Raju insisted that the duo had the backing of favourable home conditionsRangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal on the other hand worked well in tandem in home conditions and the spinners theory worked for Sri Lanka But once again the batsman have to put up runs for the bowlers to defend he saidA Hyderabad veteran Raju also opined that lack of domestic cricket on favourable pitches is hampering the growth of Indian players and spinners in particular With the amount of cricket India are playing away from home the players get very little time to play domestic matches Even in India there is a packed schedule with tournaments like the IPL happening So it leaves little time for state players to play on their pitches and hone their craft If you go back to the golden days the state teams would play on their strength he saidEarlier state teams were given a choice as to what surface they wanted And I personally believe that state teams should be allowed to play on their strengths and prepare pitches to their liking Even countries play on their strengths Not only Rangana Herath but even Moeen Ali was made to look like a heroOn the presence of spinners in South India Raju said Like in South India places like Chennai Bengaluru Kerala were known for spinning tracks Some would be rank turners while some would assist spinners from Day 3 onwards and bounce was there But with a packed ICC calender domestic cricket has sufferedWhen you came to North you played seamers but in South spin was more prevalent In the last couple of years there has been a lot of talk about rank turners and they have been playing on seamerfriendly tracks he addedRaju who has been part of two World Cup teams in 1992 and 1996 is hopeful of a positive change in Indian cricket with an advisory committee being formed But now with an advisory committee being formed with Sachin Tendulkar VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly in the panel I think these guys will be coming up with new ideas which will benefit Indian cricket Because they themselves were playing quality cricket in their time he saidRaju is also pleased with the recent fourday games being scheduled for the India A squad You have to play a lot of fourday games on different wickets Now they are doing that and it is a good initiative that they have taken where India A are playing Australia A and South Africa A After the ODIs they are playing fourday games as well So its good thats the way to go about it he said