Harbhajan Singh Reveals He Continued Domination Against His Bunny Ricky Ponting In Mumbai Indians’ Nets
Apr 25, 2020 at 8:17 PM
Though the former Australian two-time World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting was one of the greatest batsmen in international cricket history, he was the bunny of the Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Recently, Harbhajan also revealed that he continued his domination against Ponting during the net practice when they were teammate for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Even after more than seven years of his retirement, Ricky Ponting is still the most international run-scorer for Australia and third most international run-scorer in overall. The right-handed batsman hit the second most international centuries, which was 71 times. But still, he failed to handle Harbhajan Singh comfortably in his entire career.
In international career, the off-spinner Harbhajan dismissed Ponting for 13 times – 10 times in Tests and three times in ODIs. While Ponting was his joint-best international bunny (former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden was also dismissed 13 times by Harbhajan), the former Australian captain was also his best bunny in the Test cricket.
When Ricky Ponting came to play for Mumbai Indians, I thought he would improve after playing me in the nets: Harbhajan Singh
Recently, during a live chat session with his former Indian and Mumbai Indians teammate Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan opened up that he continued the domination against Ponting when they were teammates in Mumbai Indians (MI).
Harbhajan said, “I think Ricky Ponting used to get out just by looking at my face. I didn’t even need to bowl at him. When he came to play for Mumbai Indians, I thought he would improve after playing me in the nets. But even there I got him out 5-6 times.”
Rohit replied, “I think you dented his confidence even before the series started bhajju paa.. Now I know why he couldn’t score runs that season.”
The present Chennai Super Kings (CSK) off-spinner Harbhajan served for the Mumbai Indians from 2008 to 2017 seasons. Meanwhile, Ponting served for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2013, where he played six matches and scored only 52 runs (average 10.40).
On the other hand, Harbhajan is the second most-capped player for Mumbai Indians as he played 158 matches for this team. The off-spinner is also the second most wicket-taker for this team as he took 147 wickets. Under his captaincy, MI won their first trophy which was the Champions League T20 2011.