Harbhajan Singh Khalsa "Maclean's Magazine" in Canada published favorable articles about Harbhajan Singh in 1977, James Wilde of "Time" wrote a critical article that year, titled "Yogi Bhajan's Synthetic Sikhism". Wilde alleged that Gurucharan Singh Tohra, former President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), had stated that Harbhajan Singh is not the leader of Sikhism in the Western World as he claimed, and that Tohra had denied the SGPC had ever given the title of Siri Singh Sahib to Singh. The "Time" article was followed by emphatic rebuttals from Tohra. There was also a demonstration held outside "Time"'s London office and a
Harbhajan Singh also scored 69 runs at 34.50. This included a 40 in the first innings of the First Test to help India reach 241 after a top-order collapse, keeping India's deficit to 75; they went on to win the match. Harbhajan ended the year as the third-highest wicket-taker in the world, and the highest among Indian players. He was named by "Wisden" in their selection of the Test team of the year. Harbhajan then missed the ODI tour of Sri Lanka at the beginning of the year with a hamstring injury. He recovered in time to be recalled for the tour