Recently, Harbhajan Singh reminisced about the initial phase of the cricketer’s career of Virat Kohli and how that played a role in motivating him to rise to the greatest heights of success in Indian cricket. Citing moments from Kohli’s 2008 inaugural series, Harbhajan emphasized how that esoteric magnetism towards perfection coexisted with the budding captain’s early senular assaults in 2011 and the metamorphosis that later deified him.
Many iconic replays of the famed encounter between the two teams have centered around Kohli’s maiden ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2008 and more: Harbhajan too seized a portion. In the first innings he opened the batting and raised a fifty but was not happy.
‘There’s one incident I recall quite vividly. Viru [Virender Sehwag] had gotten injured, I suppose. [Ajantha] Mendis was getting everyone out. There’s this guy who’s young and has a lot of energy; he comes in. He plays and scores a fifty. He turned to me and asked, ‘Paaji, how did I play? ‘ I replied, ‘Very well.’ He further constructed, ‘Paaji, I shouldn’t have gotten out; should have smacked him more.’ I simply loved the attitude, Harbhajan remembered when discussing Taruwar Kohli’s occurrences on his podcast. Intensive impetus within him, even early in his career defied the querulous view of Kohli’s future optimistic projection. Harbhajan also drew attention to the fact that Kohli lacked confidence during his first Test series against West Indies, which took place in July 2011.
“Okay, if I put you in the picture about his Test cricket, let me go back to the very start. We were in the West Indies. Of course, on that Tour, Fidel Edwards (formerly of the West Indies Quick) had a particular habit of targeting him a lot getting him out of the crease LBW or either short ball. He was getting out and getting out and getting out and of course, he was quite depressed. There was a self-doubt, ‘am I good enough?’ I told him ‘You wouldn’t be able to face yourself if you didn’t score 10K runs, you have the potential of scoring 10 thousand runs in Test cricket.’ And if you don’t it will be because of your own fault.” After that how Kohli has performed is something which goes beyond imagination,” Hyder said.
Such thoughts came true when Kohli in the next 13 years went on to become a giant of the game. In this span of time, he took his batting to curves and pinnacles one never saw in this game, set many a record and became Indian cricket’s poster boy.
“I have witnessed his transformation. Everything, from his nutrition to his psychology – ‘I don’t like the idea of being just a player. I want to be remembered in the annals’. The same mess of stubbornness which I saw in me, Kohli has it in heaps. I want to be that guy who is out there winning matches and making tons for the country. He was getting centuries to back to back in Australia. This was the first time India is chasing 400 runs…and they are hell bent to do so. We will probably lose, but we shall fight.
That passion to a soldier, continue doing it today you are a player, that Is attitude you know, makes you a player. Kohli has made his mark, perhaps even more than the others on Indian cricket,” Harbhajan said.
“Evolving from being just a player to a cricket great,” Today, apart from these marginal average scores, Kohli holds 8848 runs from 113 Test matches. He has always been an extraordinary batsman but his transformation into one of the greats has been an incredible journey. He is expected to cross 10,000 Test Runs, potentially elevating him among the cricketing greats of India.”
