Indian cricketing icon, Virat Kohli now stands at the very top when it comes to the current generation of batters. Taking the baton from the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, it is fair to say that he has done justice to being the face of Indian cricket.
Many might ponder as to where Kohli’s path to greatness began. The former Indian spinner and teammate of Kohli, Harbhajan Singh recalled two instances during his early years which indicated that Kohli was indeed destined for greatness.
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In a podcast Find a Way with Taruwar Kohli, Harbhajan Singh revealed an instance where got to see the attitude with which he plays the game. During India’s tour of Sri Lanka, the Indian batters seemed to struggle with the spinner Ajantha Mendis, but Kohli feared no one and managed to score a valiant half-century but that did not seem to be enough for the young man.
“I remember when he first came into the team. I think Viru (Sehwag) was injured, and the batters were all dismissed by (Ajantha) Mendis. Virat Kohli came in, a young guy full of free energy came in to bat, played Mendis and scored 54 in a One-Day game,” Harbhajan Singh shared.
“He came in and asked how he played, I said he was decent. But he felt that he should have smacked him more. I loved that attitude,” he added.
The former Indian spinner also recalled another instance where he had delivered his expectations from a young Kohli. The youngster was not in the best of form at the time and seemed to struggle with his confidence. But the veteran was so confident in Kohli that he said it would be an utter disappointment should he not score over 10,000 runs in the longest format.
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India’s third-highest wicket of all-time shared, “When he was starting in Test cricket, we were in the West Indies and the fast-bowler, Fidel Edwards used to get him out on the pad or the shorter delivery. He was disappointed in Barbados and the self-doubt crept in if I was good enough”.
“I told him then that if he didn’t score 10,000 runs, then you would bring be ashamed yourself. You have so many capabilities that you can score 10,000 Test runs and if you didn’t do it then it would be on you. After that Virat Kohli, the amount of effort he has put in, three times the amount of effort when it comes to his body, mind and how he approaches the game,” Bhajji delivered his expectations.
Now the rest is indeed history. Kohli continues to perform when his team needs it the most. As the icon delivers performances time and again, it is only a matter of time until he sits right at the very top of the cricketing food-chain and call himself the greatest.
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