The former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh feels that the Indian team and the fans shouldn’t be concerned with the form of their best batter Virat Kohli, who is going through a rough patch in this ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America.
In the very first game of the competition, against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, Kohli could manage only one run before his aggressive shot using his feet ended in the hands of the third-man region.
Virat Kohli started pretty well against Pakistan, with a beautiful cover drive for a four. But on the very next ball, he found the extra-cover fielder as he played Naseem Shah away from his body.
The expectation was high from him during India’s 111-run chase against the USA, but Kohli edged the very first ball against left-arm seamer Saurabh Netravalkar, as his feet didn’t move while the hands went away from his body.
‘You can’t judge anyone on that pitch’- Harbhajan Singh on Virat Kohli’s struggle
Virat Kohli’s former team-mate Harbhajan Singh feels that no batter should be judged on how they have performed in this T20 World Cup 2024, at the Nassau Stadium, given run-scoring has been the hardest job on this track. The 137/7 by Canada against Ireland is the highest total in eight games at this venue.
Once the batters of the India team spend some time in the middle on good surfaces, they could again look to whack the bowlers. During a discussion, Harbhajan feels that the inaugural champions of the tournament will sort out Kohli’s form against Canada in their last group fixture.
‘I will get a lot of shortcomings if I try to find them on that pitch, but I do not want to judge anyone on that pitch because batting was difficult on that pitch.’ Harbhajan Singh expressed on Star Sports. ‘There was a lot of help for the bowlers. However, the one thing I would want to see is consistency.’
Former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu feels that once the players get out of New York, their confidence will be high again, and the off-spinner has obeyed the same too.
‘Virat Kohli didn’t score runs there because the conditions were like that. You cannot judge a player in those conditions. He has come here from there; his confidence will be high here.’ The veteran responded. ‘As Navjot Sidhu also said, all batters would have offered Prasada as they got rid of that pitch.’
When it comes to the history of the T20 World Cups, the former India captain is still the highest run-getter wit 1146 runs in 28 innings at an average of 67.41, and a strike rate of 130.52, with 14 fifties.
The Punjab-born spinner also feels that apart from Virat Kohli, the rest of the top-order batters too need to come up with better performances against Canada in Lauderhill, Florida. Captain Rohit Sharma celebrated a fifty against Ireland, but since then, it has dried up.
‘Runs are obviously expected from Virat Kohli here. Along with that, we need to consistently see partnerships which we weren’t getting in the first six overs.’ Singh reflected. ‘Then your middle order is set. Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube have scored runs.’
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Going into the Caribbean for the ‘super-eight’, the batters will be hungry to score more runs.
‘We had spoken about Dube not scoring runs. You cannot judge anyone on that pitch. We were getting 110-run matches there and a winner or loser was getting decided in that.’ Harbhajan Singh concluded. ‘The conditions are different here and we hope the batters’ form will also change along with the conditions, and it will definitely change.’
India will start their ‘super-eight’ campaign against Afghanistan on June 20, at the Kensington Oval, in Bridgetown, Barbados.
