Harbhajan Singh believes Jasprit Bumrah will forever remain indebted to Virat Kohli’s “gut feeling”, which got him the hat-trick, just like he is grateful to Sadagopan Ramesh for an incredible catch at forward short-leg 18 summers ago.
In 2001, Harbhajan’s hat-trick against the mighty Australians (Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne) set the tone for the series. On Saturday, Bumrah got Darren Bravo, Samarah Brooks and Roston Chase.
“This hat-trick belongs to Virat as much as it belongs to Bumrah. The bowler wasn’t convinced but the skipper had a gut feeling. What if Virat wouldn’t have gone for that DRS? It was a brilliant call by the skipper which complemented his magnificent effort,” Harbhajan told PTI on Sunday.
“I remember that I discussed with Dada (Sourav Ganguly) and we decided to keep it on stumps and try for a third leg before but Warne flicked it.
“Now to be honest, Ramesh wasn’t the most athletic of the guys in that team. Yet at forward short-leg, he pulled off that stunner with a less than split second reaction time. Whenever I have later met Ramesh, I told him, ‘buddy my hat-trick belongs to you’,” Harbhajan fondly recollected.
“That’s why I believe that some things happen that come together and such a beautiful thing happens. It was Ramesh’s brilliance then and it’s Virat’s conviction now,” said the owner of 711 international wickets.
For Harbhajan, Bumrah is the biggest blessing that Indian cricket could have had.
“Indian cricket is blessed to have a match winner like Bumrah. This hat-trick will only help his legend grow but even without that he is an incredible performer. I mean 5 wickets in 7 overs in last game and 6 wickets in 9 overs in this game. You can’t ask for more. He is a rare diamond,” said Harbhajan.
