'That's what made him vulnerable' - Harbhajan Singh reveals why Ricky Ponting struggled against him

Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh is regarded as one of the greats of the game who troubled many batting legends. While Harbhajan proved his mettle against every country he played, his best came out against Australia as he enjoyed turning the ball against some of the best batters that served the Australian team. Harbhajan played 18 Test matches against Australia and picked 95 wickets, which is his most against any opponent.

Harbhajan never shied away from revealing some of the harsh truths he observed while playing the game and in his recent explosive claim, the former off-spinner has stated that Ricky Ponting struggled against him because his defense was not the greatest. The former cricketer added that Ponting used to defend the balls with hard hands.

“There is no doubt about how great or big a player he was, and whenever he played the game, he wanted to dominate. But what I found as a bowler – it could be just me talking about it or what I felt – bowling against Pointing was that he had very hard hands against defending the ball. That’s what made him vulnerable and the batter with not the best defence,” Harbhajan said while speaking at Brett Lee’s podcast.

Maybe I was lucky to get him out 11-12 times in Tests, he’s a top player: Harbhajan Singh

Adding further, he also claimed that his bounce was something Ponting could not handle well. However, Harbhajan  praised the legendary batter by calling him a top player to serve the game.

“Maybe I was lucky that I could get him out 11-12 times in Test cricket. He is still a top player, and If I have to pick my top five batters who dominated the game, I would have Ricky Ponting in that list,” he concluded.

Notably, the rivalry between Harbhajan and Ponting was widely visible when the latter had struggled against the “Turbanator” during the historic 2001 Test against India. Harbhajan hunted him down five times in the series, and one of the wickets came as part of a hat-trick during Kolkata Test.

While Harbhajan recently announced his retirement, Ponting is providing his services to Delhi Capitals as head coach of the franchise.