Harbhajan Singh

Mumbai: Harbhajan Singh on Tuesday said he would like to “stay with SG balls” for domestic cricket but would prefer the Duke balls to Kookaburra if a change was necessary.

“If I have to choose, any day I will go with the Duke. It’s the best ball I have ever played with. It is better than the SG,” the off-spinner told The Telegraph over phone.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s technical committee at a recent meeting discussed the idea of switching from SG to any other make in domestic cricket. The BCCI’s move was prompted by the poor quality of the SG balls last season.

The technical committee was considering the option of Duke and Kookaburra, the two other balls used in international cricket.

Harbhajan said the Duke, used mainly in England, would be a better choice among the two.

“The Kookaburra is good for only 10-15 overs. After that the seam goes flat, the shine goes and the ball becomes soft. In our grounds, not the Test centres but other venues, the grounds are hard and it doesn’t last long,” the 29-year-old with 540 international scalps to his name said.

“The Duke ball lasts longer. It stays hard for about 90 overs... If you ask any batsman… If you ask Sachin Tendulkar… He would straightaway say it’s the Duke ball, because it doesn’t go soft soon and so it’s good for both the batsmen and the bowlers.”

Although the Australian Kookaburra is used in most countries, including Pakistan, the Punjab bowler was of opinion that it would tilt the balance heavily in favour of the batsmen in Indian conditions.

“Kookaburra is not the best ball anyway. We used it in the Duleep Trophy one season and if you see scorecards that season, you will know. The middle-order batsmen, once they played 10 overs, put up big scores,” he said.

On the issue of Test cricket coming under threat due to the rise of T20, Harbhajan had a simple solution: “We should play more Test cricket, yaar! I think that’s the only solution to save Tests.”