Will have to see O'Keefe bowl in different conditions: Harbhajan Singh

It has been a while since Harbhajan Singh has been a part of the Indian team’s bandwagon. Of course, the Indians are preferring more younger spinners at the moment, but when it comes to sharing his opinion on the grand scheme of things, it is quite clear that he is experienced enough to do so despite the odd trolling. Speaking about the performance of Steve O’Keefe, the 36-year old said that he would comment on the southpaw only after he had seen him bowl on tracks that did not offer as much turn as the one in Pune.

“To be honest, that wasn’t a pitch. Test cricket should last five days. You cannot play on such wickets where anyone runs in to bowl and takes wickets. I have played in over 100 Tests, and I know how hard I had to work to earn every single wicket,” he said.

“When you prepare such a wicket, you are making conditions favourable for the opposition as well. That’s what happened in Pune. When I say a good Test wicket, I mean a strip where the ball does not shoot up from the first day itself,” he explained.

AHe also added that he would love to see O’Keefe bowl on a good Test wicket and see whether he could indeed take 12 wickets on the day. “I will have to see him bowl on a good Test match wicket. Not this one. Till then, I will reserve my comments,”he quipped.

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He went on to conclude that the track in Pune was a place where one did not need to flight the ball an awful lot. “You don’t need to flight the ball or anything. You just need to bowl fast and not give the batsmen room to either come down the track, or be able to maneuver the ball around. Bowling six deliveries in the same spot is all you need to get wickets on such tracks,” he explained.