After the fall, Harbhajan's rise has just begun

Over the past year, Harbhajan Singh found himself on unfamiliar terrain. Either second or lead spinner for over a decade since his heroics against Australia in the home Test series in 2001, he was suddenly in the international wilderness.

Harbhajan ought to have seen it coming. In the months, some might say a couple of years, before the axe fell, his returns had been steadily dwindling and his bowling no longer carried the threat or edge that made him such a dangerous customer in all forms of the game. Perceptibly, he had slipped into a defensive role, running in quicker, bowling flatter, largely from round the stumps with the ball darted into middle and leg. He had sacrificed most facets of his bowling that had taken him to the top.

England last year was the last straw, even if officially it was an injury that cut short his tour. When the West Indies came visiting for a three-Test series, R Ashwin replaced him. He has done nothing wrong in his fledgling Test career with nearly 50 wickets in eight Tests, to go with three man of the match awards and two man of the series honours.

It was, some would say, poetic justice that England should announce Harbhajan's second - or is it third? - coming. On a still, muggy Sunday night at the R Premadasa Stadium, Harbhajan turned the clock back in an inspired spell, and the old crafty practitioner with his cunning bag of tricks stepped up to the plate.

In four overs, he more than suggested that time away from the international spotlight had done wonders. There was purpose and intent, but if there was any anxiety as there surely must have been, it was well concealed. His unfurled all his variations - he had put away a few of them in the time leading up to his ouster - and did so without fuss, spinning his way to the best figures by an Indian in a Twenty20 International.

Impressive as Harbhajan's spell of 4-2-12-4 was, it wasn't necessarily the figures that edified it. If anything, the returns, however flattering, were a by-product of the way he bowled in difficult circumstances - in his first game for India in 13 and a half months, with the entire world wondering how he would cope with an entirely different kind of pressure.

"I have seen Bhajji bowl better," Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his captain and his close friend, said after having watched Harbhajan from behind the stumps. "But this performance... if you read the circumstances, coming back after a period of time and getting a chance where he has to prove that he is very good. He was under a certain amount of pressure, and it was a brilliant performance. The pressure might only have been his expectation level, but still that desperation is there.

"It was important that he did well in this particular game, and by doing well, I don't mean he had to take four or five wickets," Dhoni went on. "Even if he had taken two wickets and given away 24 runs, that would have been a very good performance. He is someone who can do better than this but if you go by the circumstances, it was brilliant."

It will be easy to dismiss Harbhajan's effort considering the ease with which wickets came his way against England - bemused, befuddled and completely at sea against the turning ball - but truth to tell, this was no raging turner. As Dhoni pointed out, it was the way he bowled rather than the numbers he stacked up that merits commendation.

"In T20 cricket, it's important to just read the game," said Harbhajan, his emotions well under check as he reflected on the changes he has made to his approach in the last year. "I have tried to cut down my run-up a bit. I was running in too fast, and struggling to find my areas. So I was consciously coming in off a short run, and slowly. This India shirt is everything for me. I don't know what I would do if not playing for India."

When he was not playing for India, as Ashwin was spinning a web in home Tests with ample support from Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan turned up for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy without too much success, then travelled to England to play County cricket for Essex with greater returns. Some might say his recall to the side for the World Twenty20 was a bit of a surprise, but Dhoni's faith and the selectors' willingness to give the captain the side he wanted facilitated Harbhajan's comeback.

"It's been a hard year, being out of the side," Harbhajan conceded. "The other boys were doing really well, so it was really difficult for me to make a comeback. For me, it was an important game. I hadn't played international cricket for a full year. Getting a wicket first or second ball gives you a lot of confidence."

Eoin Morgan, who shaped to cut a top-spinner and lost his middle stump to Harbhajan's second delivery in his comeback over, may not be a favourite in the Australian, Pakistani and South African camps just now with the Super Eights beckoning. But for Harbhajan, the journey back has just begun. Ashwin should, and most likely will, continue to be the first choice if India play only the one specialist spinner; Harbhajan must continue to remain patient and grab his chances if Dhoni is to happily grapple with the sudden problem of plenty.