Harbhajan Singh Lauds Virat Kohli As India's Test Skipper, Says We Need More Players Like Him To Take Team Forward

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has praised Virat Kohli for his role as India’s Test skipper and said that the team needs more players like him in the squad. Virat Kohli, who was recently removed his India’s ODI skipper, is currently leading the team in an away Test series against South Africa.

Virat Kohli was the skipper of the team in all three formats for the last few years. However, he decided to step down as a T20I skipper after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in November and wished to lead the side in only ODIs and Tests. However, ahead of the South Africa tour, BCCI promoted new T20I captain Rohit Sharma as the ODI skipper too as they wanted to have the same skipper for limited-overs format.

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We Need Players Like Virat Kohli In The Squad: Harbhajan Singh

While speaking to India TV, India’s veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh said that the team needs players like Virat Kohli to take the Test team forward. The off-spinner also revealed how India’s perception changed under Kohli’s captainship during away Test tours.

“It suits perfectly actually and we need players like him in the team to can take the team forward. When team used to go to Australia, they used to think about how to save the Test match. In Virat’s captaincy, team goes to Australia thinking how they can win the Test series,” Harbhajan Singh said.

Harbhajan Singh also recalled one of the moments of the past, when Virat Kohli told him that the team should always aim to win a Test match and there is no importance of a drawn game.

“I remember in one of those series, where he had scored a lot of runs, although India had lost the Test series. India had to chase some 400 runs in that match and Kohli had scored a big century.

“So when he returned to the pavilion I told him that match could have ended in a draw, but he replied that ‘there is no importance of a drawn Test, either you win or you lose and the day we learn to fight, we will learn to win and someday we will’, he said.

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Virat Kohli Has Perfectly Played His Role As A Leader: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh also hopes India can defeat South Africa in the ongoing Test series. India have never defeated South Africa in Test series on the latter’s home, losing the 6 Test series in the past out of 7, out of which 1 ended in a draw.

“And that is the change you have noticed in this Indian side. They went to Australia and beat them twice, they played well in England and I hope they beat South Africa in this series.

“So, Kohli has perfectly played his role as a leader. And the aggressive approach, that has made Virat Kohli the player he is today. Had he been soft like MS Dhoni, I don’t think he would have scored these many runs”, Harbhajan Singh concluded.

Meanwhile, in India vs South Africa 1st Test, the Indian team have reached a total of 272-3 on the scoreboard after the completion of two days. Day 2 was washed out due to rain. On day 1, Indian opener KL Rahul slammed a century to take India to a good start. He scored 122 runs and remained unbeaten till the stumps of day 1.

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