Harbhajan, India's knight in shining armour

India is counting on bowler Harbhajan Singh to again demolish the South African batting order in the seventh one-day international match of the triangular series in East London.

South African batsmen first faced Singh's bowling attack in last week's match when he gave India a psychological advantage by wiping out the middle batting order with his spin wizardry. India is expected to rely on Singh again Friday.

The third country in the series is Kenya, which stunned the cricket fraternity by defeating India Wednesday in the sixth game.

South African coach Graham Ford expected Singh to be a problem for his side again. "There is almost no grass on the pitch and because of that the seam bowlers are not going to get much help," he said.

But he felt that the South Africans were ready for the attack. "Singh bowled well in Centurion, but that's now in the past. We have performed well all over the world against top spinners."

Former South African batsman Lee Irvine described Singh as the leading exponent of spin in the world. "In the past decade Shaqlain Mushtaq of Pakistan, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and Pat Symcox of South Africa were the only noteworthy spinbowlers in Test cricket.

"Harbhajan has now acquired that crown, and in my view, he is the best and most exciting player in the world. Any bowler who can get (South African) Jacques Kallis out twice in a row at Centurion (stadium) is an outstanding bowler."

Irvine also advised South Africa to rope in Lance Klusener earlier in the game against India to overcome the expected spin attacks. He said it would pay the South Africans to do this, as Klusener, despite being one of the top one-day players in the world, is weak against spin bowlers. "Most of the other South African batsmen can withstand the spinners," he said.

India had realised that Klusener preferred seamers and in Centurion they kept him uncomfortable with spinners.

"Lance has proven himself repeatedly, but he has never batted convincingly against spin bowlers," said Irvine. "As to the other batsmen, Neil McKenzie will be the one to battle most against Anil Kumble and Singh.

He fares well against most spin bowlers, but when it comes to spinners of world class, McKenzie falters."

Irvine felt that South Africa's best player against a spin attack was Mark Boucher. He recommended that Boucher be brought higher up in the batting order.

Ford said the decisions on batting order could not be made beforehand. "One has to be led by the situation of the game," he said.

India's tour of South Africa : Complete coverage

--Indo-Asian News Service

Mail Cricket Editor