Bangalore: Harbhajan Singh - the magical off spinner of India - became the first bowler to take 50 or more wickets in the calendar year 2002 when he took the wicket of Wavell Hinds of West Indies on 19.10.2002 on the 3rd day of the 2nd Test at Chennai.

He has now a tally of 53 wickets in 2002. Born on 03.07.1980 at Jalandhar, Harbhajan Singh - the youngster from Punjab, made his Test debut against Australia in the 3rd Test at Banglaore in 1997-98 and was not an instant success.

He struggled to take two wickets in the first innings on debut and had figures of 23- 1-112-2 and 6-1-24-0 at Bangalore. His first 8 matches yielded only 21 wickets @ 38.57 with not a single five-wicket haul to boast of.

When everything seemed lost to him, he came back splendidly and changed his career graph commencing with the Test at Mumbai against the mighty Australians when they toured India in 2000-01. He was a roaring success in the three-Test series and captured a record haul of 32 wickets. He has never turned his back from then onwards.

Harbhajan Singh has accomplished the feat of taking 50 wickets in a calendar year twice in his short career spanning 30 Tests. He had performed a similar feat in calendar year 2001 when he took 60 wickets.

Following is the breakup of his bowling performance in the calendar years since his debut:

Sl No	Year	Tests	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Ave	Best	5WI	10WM
1	1998	3	94	16	314	7	44.86	3-64	0	0
2	1999	5	191.4	47	496	14	35.43	3-30	0	0
3	2001	12	570.4	133	1557	60	25.95	8-84	6	2
4	2002	10	501	112	1254	53	23.66	7-48	4	0
	Total	30	1357.2	308	3621	134	27.02	8-84	10	2

He has played against three opponents in 2002 - West Indies, England and Zimbabwe and his performance against these three countries with details of modes of dismissals is as under:

Sl No	Vs	Tests	Overs	Wkts	bowled	lbw	caught	ct wkt	ct field	c&b
1	England	3	135.4	12	1	3	8	2	6	0
2	West Indies	5	248.5	29	4	3	22	0	19	3
3	Zimbabwe	2	116.3	12	1	0	11	0	10	1
	Total	10	501	53	6	6	41	2	35	4

The entire career bowling record of Harbhajan Singh up to the end of the 2nd Test at Chennai reads as under:

Sl No	Vs	Tests	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Ave	Best	5WI	10WM
1	Australia	4	206.9	46	681	34	20.03	8-84	4	2
2	England	6	271.7	58	729	25	29.16	5-51	3	0
3	New Zealand	3	118.4	32	268	6	44.67	3-33	0	0
4	Pakistan	2	63	13	173	5	34.6	3-30	0	0
5	South Africa	1	54	8	168	3	56	2-79	0	0
6	Sri Lanka	4	137.6	30	419	7	59.86	3-127	0	0
7	West Indies	5	248.5	62	608	29	20.97	7-48	2	0
8	Zimbabwe	5	254.7	59	575	25	23	6-62	1	0
	Total	30	1357.2	308	3621	134	27.02	8-84	10	2

The complete list of Indians who have figured in the elite list of those taking 50 or more wickets in a calendar year comprises M H Mankad in 1952, B S Chandrasekhar in 1976, Kapil Dev (twice) in 1979 and 1983, and Harbhajan Singh (twice) in 2001 and 2002. Dennis Lillee of Australia holds the world record for taking most wickets (85 in 13 tests in 1981 @ 20.95) in a calendar year.

Those who are on the verge of reaching the land mark of 50 or more wickets in 2002 are Anil Kumble of India (46 in 9 tests), Matthew Hoggard of England (45 in 10), Merv Dillon of West Indies (41 in 10) and Zaheer Khan of India (40 in 13). Shane Warne of Australia has every chance of becoming the 2nd player to reach 50 wickets in calendar year 2002 after Harbhajan Singh as he needs only 2 wickets to attain this land mark as at the end of the 2nd days play on 20.10.2002 in the 3rd and final Test against Pakistan at Sharjah.

Extras:
Thatscricket.com Special: Columnist: Keshavamurthy C