Harbhajan Singh dismissed a trio of top batsmen in the Indian Premier League opener on Saturday before underlining the importance of a finger spinner to India's cause at the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
Playing for champions Chennai, Harbhajan sent back Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli, former South Africa batting mainstay AB de Villiers and England all-rounder Moeen Ali on a MA Chidambaram Stadium track that offered significant assistance to the slow bowlers.
Harbhajan, who played 103 Tests and 236 ODIs for India, said there is a perception that wrist spinners have more chance of success as they possess more variations in their armoury.
"I have played all my cricket as a finger spinner and never complained about it. I did okay, not bad, quite happy with whatever I have achieved," said the 38-year-old, who has taken over 700 wickets in the three formats of international cricket.
On Saturday, the former India off-spinner's 3-20 spell at the start of the innings left RCB reeling and they were eventually bundled out for 70, leaving Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side to win the opening match of the 2019 IPL by seven wickets.
The success of Chahal and Kuldeep rendered Jadeja and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin surplus to India's limited-overs requirements but the former has battled back into contention for the May 30 to July 14 World Cup in England and Wales.
"Someone like Ravindra Jadeja, he's always in the game," Harbhajan said of his left-arm spin colleague.
Wrist-spinners are bowling three-four different kind of balls. You know they have got the leg-spin, googly, flipper and you may bowl that ball which goes straight but with more spin on it - top-spin kind of ball, so they have got 3-4 balls under their belt they could bowl at any point of time," he said.
"The new generation feels that people who can (turn) the ball both sides have more chances than the finger-spinners, it's obviously their mentality," he added.
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