On Saturday, the Turbanator Harbhajan Singh turned 41-year-old. He has charmed the world with his extraordinary spin bowling. Harbhajan Singh who made his debut way back in 1998, has played in more than 103 test matches. He has claimed a total of 417 wickets in just 103 matches.
Throughout his career, he was always under media coverage and part of many controversies. On his birthday, here are some of the lesser-known facts about this dynamic player.
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1.) Punjab da Puttar: In the year 2002, Former Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal offered Harbhajan Singh the post of DSP in Punjab Police. He also gave him the name of “Punjab da Puttar”.
2.) Bowling to Batting: During the initial days of his career, he was trained to be a batsman by Charanjit Singh but later under the instructions of Davinder Arora he shifted his training to spin bowling.
3.) The first bowler to take hat-trick: Harbhajan delivered a spectacular performance on March 11, 2001. On this day, Harbhajan became the first-ever Indian bowler, who claimed a hat-trick against Australia in a test match and took the wickets of Ponting, Gilchrist, and Shane Warner in successive balls.
4.) Age is just a number: He is the youngest India bowler to reach the mark of 400 wickets in the history of test cricket.
He started international cricket at a young age, during his first international match he was just 18 years old.
5.) From Harbhajan to Bhajji: Nayan Mongiya coined the nickname “Bhajji” because he found it hard to encourage him behind the wicket with his original name, as it is long. Now, Harbhajan owns a company with the patent name “Bhajji”.
6.) Family man: After he lost his father at a very young age, he understood his responsibilities and decided to go to Canada to earn money by driving a truck.
7.) For him ‘3’ stands for luck: Harbhajan was born on July 3, 1980, maybe that’s the reason why he considers 3 to be his lucky number and while playing, he wore Jersey with no. 3.
8.) Wreaks havoc against the Aussies: He has picked up 32 wickets against Australia in the series 2000-2001, till now, it is the biggest haul by a spinner in a 3-Test series.
Happy Birthday to a gem of the Indian cricket team!