Harbhajan carved a unique space for himself in India’s spin lineage
The Hindu
The fiery off-spinner, who forged a potent combination with Kumble, formally retires
For a spinner who remained fiery on the field and raucous fun off it, his walk towards the cricketing twilight proved to be a gentle breeze. An era concluded as Harbhajan Singh tweeted and added a YouTube video through which he .
The sign-off through words high on gratitude effectively signalled the end of a generation in Indian cricket. Over the last few years, chronologically, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and M.S. Dhoni pressed the exit button. The last-named is still displaying his skills in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but for Harbhajan this is his final full stop.
At 41, and having turned out last for India in 2016 in an Asia Cup T20I against the United Arab Emirates at Dhaka, Harbhajan was restricted to his IPL outings, be it for Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings or Kolkata Knight Riders. His retirement was inevitable but he took his time to make a formal announcement.
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.
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