THE CHAMP CALLED HARBHAJAN!


Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh's remarkable emergence as a strike Test bowler has been confirmed with the release of the latest individual world rankings. Singh, who almost single-handedly destroyed Australia in the recent three-Test series, has risen from 54th to number six in the PricewaterhouseCooper bowlers' rankings. No other Indian bowler took more than thirty three wickets in the series. Singh's heroics marked a thrilling change in fortunes for the 20-year-old dubbed the "slim sorcerer from Jalandhar". For after making his Test debut against Australia as a 17-year-old in 1998, Singh's action fell foul of the International Cricket Council (ICC). He then made just eight Test appearances in 18 months, before being forced to deal with the death of his father. Having put the Aussies to the sword, Singh has been lauded in India and taken the pressure off wrist-spinner Anil Kumble, the man who carried the nation's cricketing hopes for much of the last decade. Singh lies behind Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan, West Indian Courtney Walsh, South Africa's Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock and Aussie Glenn McGrath in the bowlers' top-10 rankings.

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