Ricky Ponting was getting out by just looking at my face in 2001 India vs Australia series : Harbhajan Singh

One of the star’s of the historic 2001 Test match between India and Australia in Eden Gardens, Harbhajan Singh has revealed that a nervous Ricky Ponting was failing to focus on the all during the entire series. The veteran off-spinner who registered a hat-trick to help India register a victory despite following-on in the match said that the former Australian captain would get out just by looking at his face.

Harbhajan Singh, who turned 40 recently, said that Ponting’s lack of concentration was the major reason of his failure during the reason or else a batsman would never get cheaply on so many occasions.

“After that when the 2001 series happened it felt like he was not playing the ball but getting out just by watching my face. He was not focusing on the ball at all, if he was focusing on the ball I don’t think anyone would get out so many times and that too so easily,” Harbhajan Singh told on Sports Show ‘Cricket Connected’.

Notably, Ricky Ponting had registered scores of 0, 6, 0, 0 and 11 during the 5 innings with Harbhajan Singh dismissing him on each of the occasions of that iconic Test series. Overall, the legendary Australian batsman averages 26.48 from his 14 Test matches in India. Interestingly, Ponting’s career average is a massive 51.85.

Further Harbhajan Singh also discussed about his on-field banters with Ricky Ponting. Recalling a match in Sharjah, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) spinner said that he uttered some words to Ponting after dismissing him and that irked the batsman so much that he charged down with his bat in hand towards him.

Harbhajan Singh admitted that he got terrified at the sight of Ricky Ponting angrily towards him. The Punjab-born added that he wasn’t aware about the meaning of the words he had blabbered in front of Ponting and said it just because he had heard the word coming out from a lot of mouths.

“First time I dismissed Ricky Ponting was in Sharjah. It was an ODI match and I got him stumped. After dismissing him, I said something to him that I didn’t know much about. My English wasn’t too good at that time, I had heard that word from a lot of people, so I also said that.

“Because of that I got banned from the next match. But my memory is that when he got out and I signalled him to go out, he came towards me with his bat as though he was going to hit me. So, I got a bit scared if he would really hit me.” Harbhajan Singh recalled.

Talking about an another incident Harbhajan said that he dismissed Ricky Ponting in Sydney and then accompanied him almost to the pavilion and that while doing somersaults. The spinner was thrilled because earlier, Ponting had said that he could dismiss him only on Indian soils.

“My special celebration for Ricky Ponting was in Sydney. Because he had said that I have dismissed him a lot of times in India but it would be difficult to do so in Australia. There also I dismissed him off the first delivery, so I accompanied him almost to the pavilion, doing somersaults all along the way,” Harbhajan Singh said.