However, Bhajji was also someone who graduated from the rigors of Test cricket.Harbhajan said, “Test cricket tests you in every possible way.” He said, “Playing 100 Tests was the biggest achievement of my career.”The chiefs nodded in agreement, although the discussion inevitably turned to modern cricket’s obsession with shorter formats, six-hitters and money-spinning leagues.So, where does Test cricket stand today?Harbhajan’s answer was concrete. He said, “Save Test cricket by playing more Test cricket and preparing better pitches. Matches should last five days, not end in two and a half days. If we look at the Ashes, top series, the games last for five days. When India plays Australia, why should the Test end in two and a half days? We had an India-England Test where we saw Joe Root take five wickets in five overs. I remember how many overs I had to bowl to take five wickets in the Test.“Like the 2001 Eden Gardens Test, where Harbhajan brought India back from a dead series against Australia. It’s a reminder of what five-day cricket enables: a change of pace, a broken morale, a revived belief.Spin bowling also became a focal point. Harbhajan lamented how the art has been weakened. “Spinners should spin the ball,” he said clearly. “If you don’t spin it, you make life easier for the batsmen. Be it T20 or Test, the basics don’t change.”He talked about mechanics as well as mentality, how spinners need courage as they cannot bowl bouncers or yorkers. His only weapon, he insisted, is deception: in the air, off the field. “The ball should fall down from your hand in the shape of a half moon.“he insisted.Will these attributes help if he bowls to Vaibhav Suryavanshi? “I would have an attitude. I will try to get him out on the very first ball. Didn’t save himself and bowled flat. My aggression might have gotten me into trouble, but this is the only way I know,” he insisted.The topic quickly turned to another talented kid who became a legend. Birthday boy Tendulkar. Harbhajan described him not as some distant icon but as a senior colleague and brother. Of someone disciplined and endlessly available. “On the field he was the great Tendulkar,” Harbhajan said, adding with a wicked smile, “but in the dressing room, he was always Paaji, who gave juniors like me and Zaheer Khan the freedom to throw them in the Jacuzzi after New Zealand won the Test in 2009.“The conversation briefly turned to the rules of the game and whether he would change them to create a better balance between bat and ball. Harbhajan joked, “Just like a bowler is banned from bowling after two beamers, I want batsmen to be banned from bowling after two sixes.”However, he soon became serious. “Laws are not the problem,” he said. “The wickets are. If you prepare good wickets, balance comes naturally.” He cited spells like Mohammed Shami’s for LSG vs RR and the MI-CSK game in Lucknow, where quality spinners like Akeal Hosein and Noor Ahmed shaped the results. He felt, “The best T20 matches are often games where 160 or 170 are defended.”At the history-packed Brabourne, the message was clear: formats may change, leagues will evolve, but only cricketers with grit, skill and the courage to challenge the game will rule.