SYDNEY, Jan 5: Harbhajan Singh spiced up his feisty rivalry with Ricky Ponting, revelling in a first-ball dismissal of the Australian captain on the fourth day of the second Test at the SCG on Saturday.

Harbhajan claimed Ponting’s wicket for the eighth time in Test cricket with the first ball that he bowled to the champion batsman.

Harbhajan has a testy rivalry with Ponting going back to his vocal send-off to Ponting when the Australian was stumped off his bowling in Sharjah in 1998.

Ponting has struggled in this series with scores of four and three in Melbourne and 55 and one in Sydney, three times falling to Harbhajan.

Overall Harbhajan has dismissed Ponting cheaply seven times, including three ducks in the 2001 series in India.

“I think he probably has got the wood on Rick at the moment,” said long-time Australian team-mate Matthew Hayden, who scored his 29th Test century with 123.—AFP