At the time I advised him that

Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh recalled his conversation with ace batter Virat Kohli on the latter’s international debut in 2008. After Kohli scored a half-century in the penultimate game of his debut series in Sri Lanka, Harbhajan, in his own words, urged the then-young right-hander to break Rahul Dravid’s scoring record to justify his talent.

Kohli opened in that five-match ODI series and promised plenty in his first three innings with double-digit scores. However, he finally converted his start into a 54 in the fourth ODI.

Recalling his words to Kohli on the latter’s debut series, Harbhajan said on Prakhar Gupta’s podcast (59:43):

“He had a lot of talent, but I wasn’t sure he would do what he has gone on to do. I remember in 2008 he immediately scored a half-century when Ajantha Mendis was unplayable. At that time, I told him that if he didn’t break Rahul Dravid’s numbers, he wouldn’t have justified his talent. There was a huge change in Kohli in just two years. His hunger and desire to win were different.”

18 years later, Kohli has overtaken Dravid for international runs with 28,527 and is behind only Sachin Tendulkar for most runs by an Indian batter.

“Should be credited fully to Kohli” – Harbhajan Singh on India’s improved fitness and fielding levels

Harbhajan Singh believes Virat Kohli deserves full credit for India’s improved fitness levels and fielding over the years. Kohli has the second-most wins among Indian captains, with 135 in 213 matches.

Under him, India became world No.1 in Tests and won their maiden Test series in Australia in 2018-19.

“The improvement in fitness levels in Indian cricket should be credited fully to Kohli. No one takes Indian cricket’s fielding lightly anymore, and that’s a credit to Virat Kohli and his team. He changed the entire system of fitness. And his hunger is still the same: to be the one to win the match for India. He’s so passionate, and that’s the difference between him and everyone else,” said Harbhajan (via the aforementioned source).

He added:

“I enjoyed his captaincy and his leadership style of talking with the bat and giving it back to the opponents was brilliant. His captaincy exemplified that Indians are not there just to take, but to give it back and teach you guys a lesson. Kohli’s Test captaincy was exceptional. His mindset is something else. He’s a big player with a big heart and is the generational player after Tendulkar.”

Kohli and Harbhajan played together in India’s triumphant 2011 ODI World Cup campaign.

Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran