Balbir Singh Sr. to Khalsa College, Amritsar. Finally, Balbir got the permission from his family to take the transfer to Khalsa College in 1942 and began intensive training and practice sessions under Harbail's guidance. Later, Harbail coached the successful Indian national hockey team at the Helsinki and Melbourne Olympics. Khalsa College had four hockey pitches. In 1942–43 Singh was selected to represent Punjab University, which, at that time, covered colleges from a large region consisting of undivided Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Sindh and Rajasthan. The Punjab University team won All India Inter-University titles with Singh as Captain three years in a row: 1943,
Australian cricket team in India in 2000–01 was depleted, without leading leg spinner Anil Kumble. On the spinning tracks of India, this left them at a disadvantage, with the other spinners who had filled the void during the earlier part of the season being Sunil Joshi, Sarandeep Singh and Murali Kartik, all having played less than 10 Tests each. Harbhajan Singh, whose previous best Test figures were only 3/30, was entrusted with a heavy burden, having been recalled at the behest of captain Sourav Ganguly after previous instances of indiscipline. He was to lead the spin attack against an Australian team which had set a world record