Kumble and Harbhajan are finished as a potent force in Indian cricket. Unfortunately, we refuse to accept that fact in India. They have been finished for close to three years now but the odd performance here and there is enough for us to hail them as our trump cards.
Here is what they have, together, done in the last three calendar years for India.
Code:
[B]YEAR WKTS AVG St. Rt.[/B]
2006 76 38.3 73.7
2007 62 33.0 64.1
2008 66 39.0 77.2
The figures for 2008 do not include their figures for today. Kumble did better in the first two of those two years and Harbhajan after ,the most horrendous couple of years in 2006 and 2007, which would have seen the end of most careers (
32 wkts in 13 Tests at 50.2 each) has had a bit of a comeback this year.
Kumble should surely go and Harbhajan must no longer be a certainty for our Test sides. We need to blood our younger spinners, Mishra, Ojha and Chawla from this season.