Harbhajan's zing set for another star turn

As a player who wears his heart on his sleeve, Harbhajan Singh brings with him that extra zing which often works superbly for his team but riles the opposition.

The gutsy bowler has worked his way up to stardom after starting as a nervous, fidgeting 18-year-old, and having to endure doubts over his talent and abilities.

He may lack the loop and flight of a traditional slow bowler, but it is no mean feat that Harbhajan has managed to become India's most successful off-spinner in all three formats of the game.

With 246 wickets from 217 one-day internationals, the 'Turbanator' is a key cog in India's wheel in the 50-over game.

His worth, though, should not be measured in terms of wickets or runs -- because it is his fierce competitiveness that makes him the dangerous opponent that he is.

It also makes him the perfect team man to have when the chips are down, despite a string of unsavoury controversies, including the 'Monkeygate' and 'Slapgate' episodes.

His confrontation with Australian Andrew Symonds in 2008 led to one of the ugliest controversies in cricket -- he was initially charged with a racial insult which was reduced to abuse on appeal.

Later that year, he was banned for 11 matches during the inaugural Indian Premier League season for slapping his India team-mate Shanthakumaran Sreesanth before the full glare of TV cameras.

He has since made up with Sreesanth and is set to share the dressing room with Symonds in the fourth season of the IPL, that comes close of the heels of the World Cup.

Harbhajan showed little pretension when asked what goals he had set for himself in this World Cup, given the huge role spinners are expected to play on low and slow wickets in the sub-continent.

"This is my third World Cup and I am more experienced now," Harbhajan, 30, said.

"My target is to take wickets and bowl as the situation demands. There is no new ball that I will experiment with nor am I going to bowl any magic ball.

"The wickets will get slower as the tournament progresses. You have to have variation in your attack. You just need to be sure of what you are doing."