Bhajji da jalwa

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India-SAfrica 3rd Test, India's 1st innings.

Harbhajan. Will he "show us how to bat"?

84.4
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 136.8 kph, another one lands back of a length and goes away like a monster. Harbhajan stays in the crease, thinks of dangling his bat at it and then pulls away

84.5
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 134.6 kph, this is a better leave, Steyn keps doing his thing, away seamers at immense pace, this time Harbhajan leaves easily

84.6
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 135.0 kph, how did Harbhajan survive that? Pushes almost in fear at another express delivery that moves away from the line of off stump. He played at it in hope, without moving the feet and it burst through that pretence of a shot without taking the edge

86.1
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, 1 run, Harbhajan gets a ball similar to the one that ate Pujara up, but this one did not deviate that much. As a result, though he got completely squared up, he managed to get bat on it and poke it into the covers. Crucially, he's away to the non-striker's end

Boy, if new balls could talk, this one is screaming its head off.

87.1
Morkel to Harbhajan Singh, FOUR, right, Harbhajan reckons he has a better chance of scoring at this end. He backs away, gets into position to deal with Morne's normal length and slams a short ball with ugly efficiency over wide mid on.

87.2
Morkel to Harbhajan Singh, no run, that shot suggests he's in the last over of a Twenty20 match. Needing 36 runs to win. Stays back in the crease and lets off a mighty swish just outside the line of off. The ball was approximately a foot further outside off

87.3
Morkel to Harbhajan Singh, 1 run, Harbhajan plays a shot no one else has ever played, or ever will. He backs away outside leg stump, Morne follows him with a yorker on the toes and Harbhajan lifts his left foot off the ground to save his ankles and plays it towards long on

87.6
Morkel to Harbhajan Singh, no run, Harbhajan gives it another almighty hoick, but was hopelessly late on his attempt to slam Morne's pacy, lifting length ball into stratosphere. He was hardly into his follow through when Boucher collected it

88.4
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, back of a length, Harbhajan plays a shot from his tennis manual. Bottom edges an attempted slap towards the slips

88.5
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run

88.6
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, What material is that stump made off? Use it to cut diamonds, I say! Steyn delivers another one of those pythons that lands on a length on middle and off, and seams away, leaving Harbhajan's attempted prod in another zip code altogether. It hits something on the way. South Africa go up in a huge appeal. The ball deviated off something. Turns out it hit the off stump on its way. The bails were not interested in falling down. Steyn is miffed beyond words!

Ladies and gentlemen. Steyn is bowling one of the best spells of fast bowling you will ever see. Please inform your friends. Bowling change, Morne gives way to Tsotso.

89.6
Tsotsobe to Harbhajan Singh, 2 runs, 132.5 kph, he backs away towards off stump again, setting himself up for a pull. Tsotso hurries him into the shot this time, but Harbhajan still gets enough meat on it to evade the infielders and land safely around deep midwicket for a couple

92.5
Morkel to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 137.9 kph, more fishing outside off stump from the Harbhajan book of angling. Morne gets this one to hold its line after landing on a length outside off, Harbhajan doesn't move his feet and has a waft, well away from the line of the delivery

That will be drinks after a riveting, crackling, absolutely terrific ripper of a session. Boy!

99.3
Harris to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 82.4 kph, Harbhajan won't mind that at all. It landed on a length outside off, missed his airy drive and turned away like a top. On steroids. It went straight into first slip's hands. Wry smiles all round.

100.5
Tsotsobe to Harbhajan Singh, 3 runs, 135.7 kph, That's mowed with as much violence as you can exhibit, without actually managing to time the ball. Short delivery, angles into position for Harbhajan's cow corner slap and he mis-times it. It rolls along towards the boundary and Prince tags it all the way to save the fourth run.

102.1
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 135.0 kph, the first one angles down the leg side, taking Harbhajan's pad on the way as he misses the glance

104.1
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 136.4 kph, thick inside edge onto the pads. Else, Harbhajan might have been dead plumb. Playing back to a fast, back of length delivery, destined for the top of off stump

104.2
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 133.9 kph, and he tries to slam him over the Table Mountain. And fails. Length ball, hint of away shape from outside off, Harrbhajan was on the back foot looking to smear that out of Cape Town, but missed it by a mile and a week.

104.3
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 141.1 kph, Steyn's building up the pace now, short length ball, angling into Harbhajan, who does well to hop back on the back foot and work it to the leg side

104.4
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, SIX, 137.5 kph, Harbhajan has just played the shot of the match. Of the series. Of the South African summer. Length ball on middle and off, Harbhajan doesn't bother with trifles like foot work. He stays back and drills the bat down in one, smooth, devastating swing. And makes fearsome contact. And then he holds his pose. The ball sails easily over long on. Harbhajan has a wry smile on his face. Business as usual. He hardly strained a muscle and sent the world's top fast bowler packing over long on. On a day when he has bowled the spell of the series. This Test match continues to throw up some utterly unbelievable moments. It brought up 2000 runs for Harbhajan in Tests. Can't think of a more stylish way to bring up a milestone.

Something seems to have gone into Harbhajan's eye. He's getting some treatment for it. And now he's ready.

104.5
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 145.8 kph, saw that coming didn't you. Steyn lets rip a steamy bouncer that was destined to hit Harbhajan on the head. He weaved away like Mohammad Ali in his prime and dropped his wrists. Good idea.

104.6
Steyn to Harbhajan Singh, no run, 140.4 kph, another short ball, but this time it slides harmlessly down the leg. Harbhajan wants to smash it, but misses. Steyn has a smile, Harbhajan has a smile. Friendly banter ensues!

How Harbhajan survived the new ball will remain one of the great unsolved mysteries of the game. Especially that ball from Steyn which crashed into off stump without dislodging a bail. "Act of God," as George Binoy puts it.

We have a long time to go in the year, but I doubt if we'll see a better spell of fast bowling all year. Sachin weathered the storm, with some luck, with lot of gumption and with some help from Harbhajan who has his own methods.