Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has backed Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to come good after England posted a massive total on the board in their first innings in the first Test of the five-match series at Rajkot.

While Jadeja was the most successful of the Indian bowlers, picking up three wickets, Ashwin failed to have much control and got only two scalps while conceding 167 runs.

Ashwin’s lacklustre performance came as a surprise to many considering his recent performances in the Test series against New Zealand where he was named the Man of the Series.

Harbhajan, speaking at a promotional event, praised the English trio of centurions for their batting, but also mentioned that the Indian bowlers cannot be written off after one poor performance.

“Root, Stokes and Moeen are all good players. While they are a young team, they have batted well in the Test match so far. But it is still early days. You can’t write off Indian bowlers,” said Harbhajan.

“It’s an one off thing and I am backing both Ashwin and Jadeja to come good in the second innings. Ashwin is a very capable bowler. I expect him to get a lot of wickets. I am expecting India to win at least 3-0.”

During the recent Test series between India and New Zealand, Harbhajan made the news for criticising the Indian curators for producing rank turners. On a similar note, the Punjab bowler noted that he enjoyed bowling more on wickets that were challenging rather than the ones that actually supported his style of bowling.

“It’s fun when the track throws up challenge for the bowlers. You have to be consistent with your lines and try different things. You have to toil to get wickets and that brings to the fore your skills as a bowler,” he added.

Harbhajan is one of India’s most successful bowlers ever with 417 Test and 269 ODI scalps to his name.