In the new millennium it has been up to Harbhajan Singh to uphold the traditionally strong Indian spin tradition. At a time when there were serious concerns that the Indian spin attack was losing its venom with only Anil Kumble around as a world class spinner the aggressive sardar came on the scene and saw to it that the rich and durable tradition would be maintained. In the absence of the injured Kumble he bowled India to a sensational series triumph over hotly fancied Australia in 2001 with a bag of 32 wickets and the only hat trick by an Indian in Tests - and since then both in Tests and ODIs he has figured prominently in the many notable victories notched up. In Tests he shares the burden with Kumble but in ODIs he is now acknowledged as the No 1 spin bowler. He can be relied upon to take wickets with his vicious turn, awkward bounce and deceptive doosra and he can also bottle up the best of batsmen with his nagging accuracy. He has performed reasonably well abroad while on home pitches he remains a match winner. A skilful bowler Harbhajan can also wield the long handle to good effect and of late has been taking his batting quite seriously.

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