PTI
 
London, Jun 25: Harbhajan Singh's flagging international career has received some much-needed boost with English county club Surrey signing him up for the latter part of 2007 season.
 
Harbhajan, who was axed from the Indian squad for the England tour following his continuous bad patch, will join the county team on July 2 and will play till the end of the summer in place of Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood.

Harbhajan, who played for Surrey in 2005, said he was keen to prove that what was India's loss was Surrey's gain. "This is obviously a great opportunity for me personally, and I can't wait to get out there and play some great cricket for Surrey," he said.

"I want to make every performance count, with both bat and ball, and really look forward to catching up with my old teammates soon."

Surrey is fighting to avoid relegation, having slipped to second last place in the top division and yet to post a win in the championship. "Let's be honest, Surrey haven't had the start to the season that we would like, and we feel that a world-class spinner is an important part of improving our performance in the second half of the year," Surrey's cricket manager Alan Butcher said.

"Harbhajan is a great wicket-taker and with the club expecting Azhar Mahmood to play for Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup later this year, we no longer have to worry about a possible gap in our line-up from August onwards," he said.

"Azhar has made a great contribution to the club, and it's clear that international duty is a distinct possibility for him later this year, so we want to be prepared."