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Harbhajan Singh Virat Kohli: His magic has been seen everywhere from international cricket to IPL. Virat Kohli made his debut in cricket when Harbhajan was in the team. Kohli and Bhajji have played together for a long time in the Indian team. Both were part of the team that won the ODI World Cup in 2011. Harbhajan told how Kohli became the best batsman of Indian cricket.
Harbhajan told the whole story –
Harbhajan narrated the story of Virat's debut series in 2008 and his initial Test struggles in 2011. He talked about Virat's desire to perform consistently and the transformation that followed that turned him into a cricket legend. Harbhajan recalled a memorable incident during Kohli's first ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2008.
Kohli was disappointed –
Kohli had scored a half-century while opening the innings, but he was not happy with his innings. Harbhajan said on Taruwar Kohli's podcast, I remember an incident. Viru (Virender Sehwag) is injured. Ajantha Mendis was getting everyone out. He (Virat) batted and scored a half-century. He asked me, 'Paaji, how did I play?' I said, 'Very good.' Then he said, 'Paaji, I should not have got out. He should have hit more. I liked his attitude very much.
Virat was upset in West Indies –
Harbhajan also talked about the problems faced by Kohli during his first Test series against West Indies in 2011. Bhajji said, “If I tell you about his Test cricket, initially we were in West Indies. On that tour, Fidel Edwards (former West Indies fast bowler) troubled him a lot. He used to get out LBW or on a short ball.” So obviously he was very disappointed. He started doubting himself. He asked me the question 'Am I really a good player?' I told him, 'If you are not able to score 10,000 runs, you should be ashamed.' You have the ability to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket and if you are not able to score runs, it will be your own fault. What Kohli did after that is a once in a lifetime exception.
Harbhajan's words later proved to be true. In the next 13 years, Kohli became a cricket legend. During this time, he broke many records with his batting. Harbhajan further said, I have seen him change. This is his food, his mentality. Kohli has more stubbornness than what I saw in myself. He was scoring centuries continuously in Australia. This was the first time that India was chasing 400 runs. We could have lost but we decided to fight. This attitude of moving forward makes you a player. Kohli has left an indelible impact on Indian cricket, Kohli has scored 8,848 Test runs in 113 matches. It is expected that Virat will cross the milestone of 10,000 Test runs.