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IPL 2021, SRH vs KKR: Harbhajan Singh threat looms large for David Warner
IPL 2021: Between Harbhajan Singh and Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner, an interesting battle is on the cards.
The IPL 2021 holds plenty of significance for Harbhajan Singh. The veteran off-spinner, who missed last year's IPL on personal grounds, will return to the Indian Premier League for a fresh season, also for a fresh team. Having gotten picked by Kolkata Knight Riders for his base price of ₹2 crore, the 40-year-old will turn up for the two-time IPL champions, who begin their campaign this season against 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad. ( IPL 2021 Full Coverage)
Between Harbhajan and Sunrisers captain David Warner, an interesting battle is on the cards. Harbhajan has dismissed Warner four times in the IPL, one of the seven batsmen he has dismissed four times or more in the tournament. Harbhajan has dismissed IPL veterans Chris Gayle and Suresh Raina, the most – five times, while getting Karun Nair, Dwayne Smith, Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey four times, along with Warner.
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Besides, Harbhajan is most effective when bowling in the Powerplay. In fact, during his previous season for CSK, back in 2019, Harbhajan opened the bowling and would more often than not, get a wicket inside the first six overs, which is exactly why Warner would be wary of the off-spinner. Harbhajan is right up there when it comes to dismissing opening batsmen in the IPL, getting them out 61 times, the most by any bowler. Besides, Harbhajan holds the record for bowling most dot balls in IPL (1,249) despite missing out in the last edition.
Behind Harbhajan are R Ashwin, with 57 wickets, Zaheer Khan with 51 dismissals, and 47 scalps each between fellow spinners Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla and fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Besides those incredible numbers, Harbhajan has a couple of records awaiting him as well. The off-spinner is two catches away from completing 50 catches in the IPL and 15 wickets away from getting to 250 wickets across all T20 matches. His tally of 150 wickets in IPL is the 5th most in the tournament after Lasith Malinga, Mishra (160), Chawla (156) and Dwayne Bravo (153).
