'It was love at first sight,' Ganguly recalls Harbhajan's heroics in 2001 Kolkata Test

The epic Test between India and Australia at the Eden Gardens in 2001 is always associated with the brilliant performances from VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. But, Harbhajan Singh, who bagged six wickets in the final innings, was no less with the ball as he ensured India crossed the line successfully.

Since Anil Kumble got injured just before the series, Harbhajan was recalled by the selectors on the insistence of then captain, Sourav Ganguly. The move paid off as the off-spinner went on to take a hat-trick in Australia's first innings and finished the match with 13 wickets.

In a talk show recently, Ganguly recollected Harbhajan's show in Kolkata as he called it as "love at first sight."

"They say it's love at first sight. And when I saw Harbhajan bowl at Eden, picking up 13 wickets it was love at first sight for a cricketer who I believed would go on to change things for Indian cricket.

And 800 wickets after that, I am not surprised. He and Anil (Kumble) were the two best spinners India has ever had together in terms of the no of wickets and the impact that they have had on Test matches," Ganguly added.

India suffered a setback when Kumble was excluded from the side due to an injury and India were about to clash against Steve Waugh's Australia, a team that was on a 15-match streak. They extended their winning run to 16 straight wins by winning the first Test in Mumbai.

"It was a new team with no Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath two of the best bowlers of that time in Indian cricket.

Harbhajan Singh was a new commodity. I played 3 different spinners in 3 different Test matches. 1st one was Rahul Sanghvi, 2nd was Venkatapathy Raju, 3rd one was Neelesh Kulkarni. And my only wicket-taker was Harbhajan Singh because Anil Kumble was injured. Anil Kumble not playing in India is a huge, huge difference for any team. We worked hard before the series, John (Wright) was very important to us and Harbhajan bowled like a champion," Ganguly told India Today.