Singh, who bowled just one over in KKR’s opening game against SRH, said that IPL is a very long tournament, and he will have to contribute a lot to the team. Moreover, he was critical about the fact on how match-ups are placed these days.
Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a winning start as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by ten runs. Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi smashed half-centuries before a combined effort from the bowlers helped KKR get first points this season.
KKR opted to play Harbhajan in their opening game, and it was specifically for his match-up against David Warner, whom he had dismissed four times in the past in the IPL. The veteran off-spinner even created a chance against Warner, but Pat Cummins dropped the catch at point.
With Warner dismissed by Prasidh Krishna in the very next over, Harbhajan did not bowl another over throughout the game. However, he feels that the Indian T20 league is a long tournament, and he needs to put in a lot of work with the KKR side.
“IPL is a very long tournament and I know I have a lot of work to do for the team. There will be times when I’ll have to bowl difficult four overs. I will have to take wickets of right-handers,”
Harbhajan Singh was quoted saying.
Moreover, he was critical about the match-ups that are seen these days. He didn’t like the fact that right-arm off-spinners don’t bowl to right-handers and the case is the same for left-arm spinners to left-handers. He said that cricket is still the same and batsmen still get out in the same way.
“Now, there is this tradition that a right-arm off-spinner doesn’t bowl to a right-handed batsman and a left-arm off-spinner doesn’t bowl to left-handed batsman. Cricket has continued to stay the same but we’ve managed to complicate things.
Today also batsmen get dismissed like the way they used to. We’ve limited our vision is what I feel and we need to be open about things,”
the veteran off-spinner who was bought by KKR at his base price of INR 2 crore further added.