Virat Kohli once thought he wasn’t good enough, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh opened a pandora’s box while speaking about the India great’s initial days in the Indian team.
Virat Kohli has emerged as the best batsman of his generation. Kohli now has more ODI hundreds than Sachin Tendulkar and is on track to break the iconic record of 100 international centuries. He recently declared his T20I retirement following India’s victory in the T20 World Cup 2024.
Virat Kohli made his India senior debut in 2008 against Sri Lanka. He opened the innings with Gautam Gambhir as Sachin Tendulkar was rested and Virender Sehwag was injured.
Harbhajan Singh recalls how Virat Kohli wowed him with his batting performance in his first international series against Sri Lanka, in 2008.
Kohli impressed with scores of 12, 37, and 25 before scoring a half-century in the fifth ODI on a challenging surface. He faced Ajantha Mendis confidently, as the Sri Lankan spinner was giving Indian batters nightmares during that period.
“I remember this one incident. Viru [Virender Sehwag] had gotten injured I supposed. [Ajantha] Mendis was getting everyone out. He comes in; young guy, free energy. He batted and scored a fifty. He asked me ‘Paaji, how did I play? I said, ‘Very well’. He then said ‘Paaji, I shouldn’t have gotten out, should have smacked him more’. Loved the attitude,” Harbhajan told Taruwar Kohli on his podcast.
Virat Kohli now has almost 14,000 runs in ODIs with 50 centuries to his name and is a bonafide legend of white-ball legend.
‘You will shame yourself if you don’t score 10000 runs in Tests’- Harbhajan Singh once told Virat Kohli
Though Kohli made his India white-ball debut in 2008, he had to wait until 2011 to make his Test debut, which came against West Indies in the Caribbean.
Harbhajan revealed another instance during Kohli’s first Test series against the West Indies. Kohli battled against Fidel Edwards throughout the series and questioned whether he was talented enough to play Test cricket. Harbhajan claimed that he told Kohli he would let himself down if he did not hit 10,000 Test runs.
“If I tell you something about his Test cricket, at the very beginning. We were in West Indies. On that tour, Fidel Edwards (former West Indies quick) had troubled him a lot, getting him out either LBW or against the short ball. He was getting out time and again, so obviously was very disappointed. He had self-doubt, questioned ‘If I am good enough?’ I told him ‘You will shame yourself if you don’t score 10000 runs. You have the capability of scoring 10000 runs in Test cricket. And if you don’t, it’ll be because of your own fault’. After that, what Kohli has done is a once-in-a-lifetime exception,” Bhajji said.
Virat Kohli had over 8,000 runs in Tests with 29 centuries to his name in over 100 Tests.
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