IPL 8: ‘Lucky to have played under seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly’

Kolkata: World Cup winning offspinner Harbhajan Singh on Thursday owed his success to the golden generation of Indian cricketers and said he was lucky to play under the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble.

"I'm very lucky to have had seniors like them and the wealth of knowledge they had. I've become successful because of them and achieved something," India's highest wicket taking offspinner said.

"I'm grateful to these guys, they have played a big role in my career."

He also praised local hero Ganguly and termed him as one of the best captains to lead India.

"Sourav Ganguly is one of the best captains of Indian cricket team ever," he said on the sidelines of launching Harbhajan Singh Institute of Cricket's first eastern India centre at the Delhi Public School in Mega City, Rajarhat on the outskirts of the city.

Having been successful, the 34-year-old now wants to pass on the knowledge to the promising youngsters and said it's important not to tinker with the natural talent.

"The same way I want the youngsters associated with me be it in Punjab or Mumbai Indians to learn."

"Every cricketer has his own style of batting or bowling. There's no copybook cricket. Look at Virender Sehwag or Virat Kohli, everybody is gifted with their own technique.

"We don't want to tamper with their natural talent. The idea is not to manipulate with the natural rhythm. We'll be focused on to harness the natural talent from the available resources," he said giving example of former South African chinaman bowler Paul Adams.

"Nobody had dreamt of an action of releasing the ball with head down.