Harbhajan Singh very recently pulled out of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League citing personal reasons. However, the CSK spinner appeared on ‘IPL Memories, ’a programme broadcasted by Star Sports. There he revealed one of the stories about Virat Kohli and it was of the time when Virat Kohli was not the best batsman in the world.
Virat Kohli, the current skipper of the Indian team in all formats is regarded as one of the best talents in world cricket, not just by fans but by almost all the legends of the game. He has already achieved a number of milestones in his career and is probably the only contender who is expected to reach the numbers Sachin Tendulkar did.
In the above mentioned programme, Harbhajan claimed that after this particular encounter he knew that Virat Kohli was going to make it big in the sport. Harbhajan recalled an IPL game between the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 where a young Kohli struck the veteran Sanath Jayasuriya for a maximum.
He said mentioning first how he came to know about the Delhi boy, “I had heard Virat Kohli’s name before the IPL auction from Lalchand Rajput. In an IPL game, I was the captain of the Mumbai Indians, Sachin paaji was sitting out. Virat Kohli hit Sanath Jayasuriya for a six by stepping out of the crease. He was not afraid of the fact that a man of Jayasuriya’s stature was bowling to him. That showed me that he is one for the future.”
Later on even Irfan Pathan, a former left-arm pacer for India piled up praises for the RCB skipper saying that Kohli was one of the most focused batsmen even at a very young age. Irfan also pointed out how commendable Kohli’s commitment towards the game is and that is one of the biggest reasons for his success.
Cover Credits- OutlookIndia
