Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh recently reflected on his motivating words to Virat Kohli following Kohli’s disappointing Test debut against the West Indies in 2011. Although Kohli had already established himself in white-ball formats, his Test debut came after the 2011 ODI World Cup.
He had a rough start, managing just 76 runs in five innings during the West Indies tour, with an average of 15.20. In a conversation with Taruwar Kohli on his podcast, Harbhajan Singh recounted Kohli’s self-doubt after the series and his own encouraging response.
“If I tell you something about his Test cricket, at the very beginning. We were in West Indies. On that tour, Fidel Edwards 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. And He had self-doubt, questioned ‘If I am good enough?’ I told him ‘You will shame yourself if you don’t score 10,000 runs,” Harbhajan said.
He added:
“You have the capability of scoring 10,000 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.”
Despite his early struggles, Kohli has built an outstanding Test career, amassing 8,848 runs at an average of 49.15 and scoring 29 centuries in 113 matches.
“The determination I saw in myself, Kohli has even more of it”- Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh has also admired Virat Kohli for his stubbornness that allowed him to perform winning match performances for India during his entire life. The 35-year-old has been a star batsman in India across formats for the past ten years, having scored nearly 27,000 runs in his shining international career.
“I have seen him change. His diet, his mindset – ‘That I don’t want to be just an ordinary player. I want to be someone who people will know for a long time’. The stubbornness I saw in myself, Kohli has a lot more of it. I want to be that guy winning games and scoring hundreds for India,” said Harbhajan in the aforementioned interview.
He continued:
“He was scoring hundreds back-to-back in Australia. It was the first time India chasing 400 runs… and they are going after it. We may lose but we’ll fight. That attitude of keep going, that’s what makes you a player. Kohli has left an everlasting impact on Indian cricket.”
Recently, Kohli was declared the Player of the Final when India won the 2024 T20 World Cup titles in West Indian and USA, after which he decided to retire from T20Is. The champion batsman is set to come back as India faces Bangladesh in two Test matches commencing on September 19.