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Harbhajan reveals tricks to upstage Jayasuriya
"When Sanath sweeps, he turns his eyes away which is an encouraging sight to me," the 'Turbunator' said as India gear up to face Lanka in the Asia Cup final.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh feels he may have found a chink in the armoury of batting dynamo Sanath Jayasuriya, as India gear up to take Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament on Sunday.
"When Sanath sweeps, he turns his eyes away which is an encouraging sight to me," said Harbhajan.
"It is not the sweep of a Matthew Hayden who is looking at the ball while executing such strokes," said the bowler who put up a decent show against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, a match that India went on to win by four runs.
The Sri Lankan batting powerhouse is causing sleepless nights to Indian bowlers after his majestic 130 in that Super League match and another encore from the left-hander on Sunday would surely put India on the mat in the final.
"I will have five fielders on the onside for him -- one at short fine leg, the other at deep fine leg, one fielder right in front of square leg umpire, the fourth one at deep midwicket and the fifth at mid-on, drawn a little inside the right," said Harbhajan, hoping sweep from the left-hander could end up in any one of these fielder's hands.
While Harbhajan has decided to feed Jayasuriya on the sweep stroke, he also has decided he would stick to over-the-wicket approach in his bowling strides.
"I would not bowl round-the-wicket to him. He has such a brilliant tap shot which is defensive in nature but still goes for a four."
"By bowling over the wicket, I would also not be giving him room for his strokes. He is unstoppable when he gets room to play his shots," said the 'Turbanator'.
While Harbhajan plans against Jayasuriya, he is already encouraged by his dismissal of Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu in Tuesday's match against the hosts.
"I really enjoyed that success against Marvan. For me, it was my ball of the tournament. He came forward to me, was beaten in the flight and picked up by Yuvraj Singh in front of square leg umpire."
Harbhajan and Yuvraj, close buddies and team-mates for home state Punjab, have developed a special rapport in this Asia Cup -- the position in front of the square leg umpire is increasingly becoming regular for Yuvraj when Harbhajan is bowling.
"It caused the dismissal of Inzamam in last Sunday's game. When Inzi sweeps, he doesn't hit it for singles. He likes to hit it hard and for fours. The trick was to bowl him flatter deliveries for sweep. This way his sweeps would not have gone over the ring fielders. Yuvraj caught him before the shot could elevate and elude him.
"The funny thing is I kept telling Yuvraj to watch out for it two overs before Inzamam was dismissed. We could have got Shoaib Malik to a similar stroke but Yuvraj could not react to it in time."
