Harbhajan calls for more Test matches

Twenty20 maybe the engine driving cricket in the 21st century but Test cricket also deserves a place alongside, believes India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

It was an obvious reference to Team India's schedule this year which saw them play just three Test matches in comparison to 14 One-Day Internationals and 8 Twenty20 internationals.

"I would love to play around 12-15 Test matches in a year but unfortunately we are playing a lot of ODIs and also Twenty20," said Harbhajan in Mumbai on Tuesday at the launch of Neo Cricket's cricket season.

The offie also refused to believe that Test cricket is dying a slow death as crowds in recent years have flocked to the stadiums to watch the Twenty20 cricket.

"I don't want to think that that the future of Test cricket is in danger. The Test cricket format is very good. It is just you need to bring a lot of people into the stadium by creating that kind of buzz in the market. You should have free tickets for students like you have in England or Australia where the last two days of a Test match are free. So if you plan properly then certainly we will draw people back to the stadiums to watch Test cricket. I have seen whenever we play in Chennai or Bangalore we get the same crowd as we would get for a one-day match," he said.

Former Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne suggested recently that One-Day Internationals must be scrapped, but Harbhajan rubbished his theory.

"I don't think 50-over cricket should be scrapped. People do like Twenty20 cricket but every format has its own charm. The only thing is that we should play more of Test cricket. The spectators may not like Test cricket that much but as a cricketer I want to play more Test matches," he said.

The 29-year-old spinner believes Virender Sehwag's absence because of injuries will certainly affect India in the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka and the ICC Champions Trophy.

"I think Sehwag's absence will be a big blow because he is an explosive batsman. Whenever we are chasing a big total, Sehwag always gives us a blazing start and that makes even the big totals look small. But as I said before Sehwag and Zaheer's absence will certainly make a difference but we have a lot of match winners in our team," he said.

Harbhajan sounded a bit emotional when quizzed on the toughest period in his career so far.

"The toughest period for me was when I was chucked out of the NCA camp and then I lost my dad after that in 2000. After that I was not interested in playing cricket and for three to four months I didn't even touch a cricket bat or ball. But my father always wanted me to be a big cricketer and make a name for myself in the country. I wanted to fulfil his dreams because I had my debut in 1998 and my dad passed away two years after that but he had not seen me dominate or win matches for the country."

"So when he passed away I put a lot of effort into my bowling and then the 2001 series against Australia happened where I took 32 wickets including a hat-trick. Then I felt that I had realised some of his dreams and had done something for the country."