Bhajji calls Sehwag the most destructive batsman

Dubai: Harbhajan Singh, nicknamed "The Turbanator" for his deadly spells which have secured many glorious victories for India, enthralled students on his visit to the Dubai Modern High School yesterday .

He answered queries from students, mixed freely and shook hands with almost all who crowded around him for a glance at the star. He also patiently signed autographs and even had lunch with the students.

Singh was a surprise visitor to the school's 25th anniversary celebrations, especially after news about his bag with his passport in it being stolen from his car in India hit the headlines.

Police in Haryana state recovered the bag for Singh — who himself is employed as a Deputy Superintendent with Punjab Police — thus enabling him to fly to Dubai and be with the students.

Highest score

Answering a question from a student on who is the most challenging batsman he had to bowl to, Singh said: "I have bowled to many good batsmen. Thank God that Sachin Tendulkar is in my team otherwise I would have had to bowl to him."

Singh went on to name Virender Sehwag, who recently broke the world record for the highest score in One Day Internationals with a knock of 219 runs against West Indies, as the most destructive batsman.

"I have bowled to Sehwag in domestic cricket and he is the most destructive for a bowler and it is always very challenging to bowl to him," Singh said.

He was accompanied by school Principal Darryl Bloud, Vice Principal Khambatta and Abdul Kader, a parent who made the star cricketer's visit possible.

When another student asked who was his inspiration to play cricket, Singh, who has bagged 406 Test wickets and 259 ODI wickets, said: "My father always wanted me to play cricket. He passed away 11 years ago and that was when I wanted to make his dream happen, and I was able to do so. Thanks to God."

When asked about his feelings on winning the World Cup, Singh said: "It was definitely the best moment of my cricket career. It mattered a lot to us; we didn't just want to win the World Cup for the people in India but as I have mentioned in other interviews we also wanted to win for the Indians who lived abroad because all of you prayed for us."

Singh sportingly praised all the spinners when asked about the new ones in the Indian team.

Talented spinners

"Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra and all others are performing very well and are very talented. They have a bright future but they need to keep their focus, because in international cricket there are many distractions so it's difficult sometimes to focus on cricket. They are keeping their focus and they should keep doing so in order to serve the Indian cricket team."

Singh also wriggled out of a tricky question on who is the best captain he had played under by stating: "I have played under many captains like Saurav Ganguly, Tendulkar, [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni, Virendra Sehwag and Anil Kumble. All of them have different styles of captaincy and are different from each other so it's difficult for me to compare. Dhoni has led the team for over five years and has been very successful and also a brilliant captain."