It's been a roller coaster of a ride for both the Indian side and certain individuals the past fortnight. The team won three straight matches only to falter yet again at the final hurdle. For players like VVS Laxman, Virender Shewag and Yuvraj Singh too, it was an up and down period. Success followed by more than one failure.

Amidst all this inconsistency, there was one player who maintained high levels all the time. Harbhajan Singh who showed that he had arrived as a match winner in the Test series against Australia, now proved that he was adept in the limited overs version too. In the one day game, restriction is the name of the game and one thought that Harbhajan who is an attacking spin bowler, always trying out variations and is unafraid of tossing up the ball would find it difficult to adapt himself.

Such doubts were quickly cast aside as the 21-year-old ace displayed both his ability to attack and restrict at the same time in the Coca-Cola Cup. And he was simply magnificent in the period under review when India played four matches. In the first game against Sri Lanka he had figures of 10-1-32-2, picking up the wickets of Jayasuriya and Vaas, who was promoted to the role of a pinch hitter. In the last league game against Sri Lanka, he was again in fine form, finishing with an analysis of 10-0-30-1, the wicket being that of the dangerous Suresh Perera. In the high scoring match against New Zealand, he had a moderate game, ending with figures of 10-1-46-0.

But in the final, he was back at his best. He harried the quick footed Lankan batsmen no end and had them guessing all the time. The manner in which he foxed opening batsman Avishka Gunawardene to have him leg before was indeed a classical dismissal, the kind of which one does not see often in the one day game. A little later, he also trapped the attacking Mahela Jayawardene lbw and finished the innings with the excellent figures of 10-0-29-2. It was only after he had finished his quota that the Sri Lankan batsmen could really cut loose. Their approach could best be summed up as: Play the crafty Sardar carefully, make runs at the other end. At the end of the tournament, Harbhajan had an economy rate of 3.42, easily the best among the Indian bowlers and second only to Muthiah Muralitharan's 3.11. He was the Indian team's one shining star and is verily, our Player of the Fortnight.

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Milestones Harbhajan's hat trick in Kolkata [ Scorecard | Match Report | Ball-by-Ball | Player v Player Statistics] Career ODI milestones on Stats Guru [ Click ]