Ahmedabad: Harbhajan Singh played his part in India taking firm control of the final Test against Sri Lanka at the Motera. The Sardar was in full cry capturing seven priceless wickets during Sri Lanka's first innings, all with conventional off breaks. He got into his stride the moment captain Virender Sehwag tossed the ball to him on Monday afternoon and evoked memories of the days when he earned the sobriquet `Turbanator'.

Bowling 11 overs unchanged from the pavilion end, Harbhajan snapped up four important wickets and reduced the Lankan innings to shambles. Short of wickets on the Zimbabwe tour and in the one-day internationals against the two visitor's — the other being South Africa — before the Videocon Test series, Harbhajan still earned lavish praise from Rahul Dravid for his economical spells. Harbhajan was luckless at Chennai and got three wickets in the Delhi Test.

Maximum advantage

On a pitch tailor-made for spinners, Harbhajan derived maximum advantage bowling to a field set to perfection by Sehwag. There were enough fielders around the batsmen and the leg trap came into play sooner than anticipated. The procession started once Sehwag ran backwards to take a spiralling skier at square leg to send back the dangerous Marvan Atapattu.

While Kumble went for runs on Monday, Harbhajan sliced through the middle order. Bowling from the same end as earlier, Harbhajan scalped three more to finish with analysis of 22.2-3-62-7. That took him past his 150-wicket mark in home rubbers. This was his fifth seven-wicket haul in 50 Test matches with a best of eight for 84 against Australia at Chepauk.

Much to the chagrin of the Lankans, he jumped into his meridian straight away after Irfan Pathan provided the breakthrough on Monday. He dismissed Atapattu, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Samaraweera, Dilshan, Mahroof and Malinga.

For a spinner who underwent surgery to his bowling hand, whose action was scrutinised by the International Cricket Council and cleared, Harbhajan's rich haul here has come as good news. His one-handed catch to dismiss Farveez Mahroof also showed him to be fiercely determined and focused. It was another smart and splendid effort from the offspinner.

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