Saturday, Jun 14, 2003
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Cricket
By Vijay Lokapally
Failure to recover completely from the finger injury was the reason Harbhajan gave here on Friday. Obviously he was despondent at having missed a glorious opportunity to hone his skill in the demanding English county league, but he was also happy at having made a decision driven by a clear conscience. "I reviewed my decision to go ahead with my contract and realised that I was wrong. I was not in the best physical state to accept the responsibility,'' Harbhajan told The Hindu .The ace India off-spinner was scheduled to assist Lancashire, joining his mates contracted with other counties_Yuveraj Singh (Yorkshire), Mohammad Kaif (Derbyshire), Rahul Dravid (Scotland) and Virender Sehwag (Liecestershire). The swelling on Harbhajan's finger told the story of his failure to win the battle against an injury which has affected his bowling from the time he played in the home series against the West Indies last year. "It wasn't so bad and I could finish that series despite a painful finger,'' Harbhajan recalled. But gradually the injury took roots and the pain spread, resulting in Harbhajan struggling to give his best. But the demands on him increased and he learnt to play with the pain, surviving on pain-killers. ``I always thought it was an injury which could heal once I rested but the pain never went,'' said Harbhajan, who travelled to New Zealand despite the injury. A few injections drove the pain away but only temporarily. "I finished that tour and went to the World Cup with lot of confidence,'' remembered Harbhajan. At the World Cup, he realised the injury had not healed. "The fingers did pain a lot but then I couldn't afford to miss out. I couldn't have let the team down. I played despite the pain,'' he said. It became very bad during the league match against Kenya at Cape Town but there was no respite for Harbhajan, who managed to produce a fine spell in the final against Australia. On returning, Harbhajan pushed himself to the brink by travelling to Dhaka for the tri-series since it was the last assignment before a long break. The offer from Lancashire was quite lucrative and Harbhajan now concentrated on the best way to heal the injury_rest. ``I was told that rest was the best way to heal the injury and that's why I stayed away from all competitive cricket,'' said Harbhajan, who, however was compelled to travel to South Africa for a charity match. Recently, he made a couple of appearances for the sole purpose of charity and refrained from bowling for fear of aggravating the injury. But the rest did not help at all. Even as Harbhajan toyed with the idea of going ahead with the contract, he tried bowling in the `nets' in Jalandhar. He was crestfallen, for he could not even grip the ball properly between his fingers. ``I was devastated because I just couldn't grip the ball. And without a proper grip I couldn't spin the ball at all,'' revealed Harbhajan. With the swelling on the finger serving a grim message, Harbhajan was forced to reconsider his decision to fly to London in the wee hours of Friday. He had completed his travel arrangements, along with Delhi skipper Vijay Dahiya, who had earned a contract to play for a club in Scotland, when he decided to consult Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar did not lose time in driving home the point that the decision was purely Harbhajan's alone. "The choice is between country and county,'' Tendulkar told Harbhajan, who, in turn, wasted no time in informing the officials at the Lancashire County Club of his decision to pull out. ``I know it was a very profitable contract for me but I couldn't allow money to dictate my cricket. May be I could have survived by bearing the pain but then I had to look ahead too, at the forthcoming season with a series in India (against New Zealand) and the tour to Australia. My priorities obviously lay with playing for the country and I'm happy at having made the right decision,'' said Harbhajan. ``With luck I might get an opportunity to play in county cricket in the future,'' noted Harbhajan, who also intimated the Board of his decision. On the future course, he added "I'll consult the Board's doctor (Dr. Anant Joshi) and act accordingly. I have a good three months to recover and if need be, won't mind travelling to South Africa or Australia for treatment,'' said Harbhajan, anticipating surgery to the injured fingers. Harbhajan joins a long list of players who have been plagued with niggling injuries because of the hectic schedule that the Board thrusts on them. At various points, senior cricketers have pleaded for rest, and when denied, have opted out. Tendulkar, Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Virender Sehwag, to name some prominent cricketers, have at some point or the other taken a `welcome' break on account of injuries. If only the Board's rotation policy had been in place some of the top cricketers would have been spared the rigours of non-stop cricket, and the subsequent toll on their body. "You can't give your best with a tired mind and body,'' Tendulkar had remarked when confronted with an increasing number of cricketers on the injury list. Even as Harbhajan reflected on the past, he made a resolve to himself to strengthen his spin fingers and return to the cricket field as soon as possible. "I made the right decision,'' said Harbhajan, sad, yet happy, at not making it to Lancashire.
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