Sachin Taught Me The Slider: Harbhajan

WINDSOR PARK ( Dominica): To make Ricky Ponting a bunny is by itself a huge achievement in any form of cricket and Harbhajan Singh can happily claim he managed that.

But the off-spinner regards the former Australia captain as the best he ever bowled to.

In 2001, just before the series against Australia, Harbhajan said he'd be looking to bowl well against Ponting because he shuffles his feet well and is a great batsman.

Even today, he maintains the same. Among other scalps that keep lingering in his mind, Harbhajan remembers his first Test wicket when he clean bowled Greg Blewett.

"I got Michael Hussey in Bangalore, it was a doosra and he left it from outside off and it came a long way in. Even I was surprised with the delivery. I have only seen Muttiah Muralitharan bowl that kind of delivery," he says.

There has been a collection of great batsmen who he dismissed - Hayden, Lara, Waugh - and the bowler holds them very close to his heart.

Harbhajan thanks Sachin Tendulkar for helping him with his bowling when it came to targetting batsmen who tackled spin exceptionally well.

"Whenever I bowl to Sachin at the nets, I always ask him what is happening and what I should be looking to do on wickets like these, and wherever we are touring, whether it is in Australia or New Zealand, I ask him and take his advice.

"He showed me how to use the slider. It can be very useful in One-day and Test cricket and I have got a couple of wickets with that ball. You hold that ball like an off-spinner but you release the ball with one finger, so it just goes like an out-swinger. But it can happen only with the new ball," he says.

And while Sachin is still around, there's a lot more the bowler is eyeing ahead of the next big assignments coming up. England and Australia is where the focus is right now.

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